Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Brazil

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bustos, Paula; Caprettini, Bruno; Ponticelli, Jacopo
• 署名单位: University of Zurich; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20131061
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 1320-1365
• 关键词: economic-development; short-run; GROWTH; industrialization; urbanization; south; LABOR

摘要

We study the effects of the adoption of new agricultural technologies on structural transformation. To guide empirical work, we present a simple model where the effect of agricultural productivity on industrial development depends on the factor-bias of technical change. We test the predictions of the model by studying the introduction of genetically engineered soybean seeds in Brazil, which had heterogeneous effects on agricultural productivity across areas with different soil and weather characteristics. We find that technical change in soy production was strongly labor-saving and led to industrial growth, as predicted by the model.