Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fiszbein, Martin
• 署名单位: Boston University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20190285
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 1-43
• 关键词: life-cycle; PRODUCTIVITY; industrialization; INNOVATION; DYNAMICS; industry; origins; GROWTH

摘要

This paper examines the role of agricultural diversity in the pro-cess of development. Using data from US counties and exploiting climate-induced variation in agricultural production patterns, I show that mid-nineteenth-century agricultural diversity had positive long-run effects on population density and income per capita. During the Second Industrial Revolution, agricultural diversity fostered industrialization, diversification within manufacturing, patent activity, formation of new labor skills, and the expansion of knowledge- and skill-intensive industries. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that diversity spurs the acquisition of new ideas and new skills because of the presence of cross-sector spillovers and complementarities.