Measures of Fixed Capital in Agriculture

Butzer, Rita ; Mundlak, Yair ; Larson, Donald F.

关键词: AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS;    AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5472
RP-ID  :  WPS5472

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Capital is a fundamental component ofagricultural production, and the accumulation of capital iskey to growth in agriculture and the process of development.Unfortunately, cross-country data sets on agricultural fixedcapital are rare. Using a common methodology that allowscomparisons across countries, as well as over time, thispaper introduces a data series on fixed capital inagriculture, based on national accounts data. The fixedcapital measure differs remarkably from the Food andAgriculture Organization's data series on tractors,which has been widely utilized as a proxy for agriculturalfixed capital. The authors construct comparable measures ofcapital in livestock and tree stock. They examine theevolution of the capital stocks from 1970 to 2000, payingparticular attention to the changing composition ofagricultural capital, as well as differences in theaccumulation of capital for high-income and middle andlower-income countries. Using the capital measures inagricultural productivity analyses, the data yield estimatedinput elasticities substantially different from those foundpreviously in the literature. The authors show explicitlythat this is due to the improved data set on agriculturalcapital stocks, as well as the methodology used in the study.