Heterogeneity, Measurement Error, and Misallocation: Evidence from African Agriculture

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gollin, Douglas; Udry, Christopher
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/711369
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1-80
• 关键词: SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT; Aggregate productivity; resource-allocation; WESTERN KENYA; LAND; identification; MARKET; farms; size; EFFICIENCY

摘要

Standard measures of productivity display enormous dispersion across farms in Africa. Crop yields and input intensities appear to vary greatly, seemingly in conflict with a model of efficient allocation across farms. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for distinguishing between measurement error, unobserved heterogeneity, and potential misallocation. Using rich panel data from farms in Tanzania and Uganda, we estimate our model using a flexible specification in which we allow for several kinds of measurement error and heterogeneity. We find that measurement error and heterogeneity together account for a large fraction of the dispersion in measured productivity.