Does land quality matter?

Bhalla, Surjit S.

doi:10.1016/0304-3878(88)90070-3

Cited by 46 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The results indicate clearly that there are significant market imperfections in labour and land markets in the study area and that these imperfections affect plot level land profitability. A wide array of variables has been used to control for land quality which may have caused an overestimation of inefficiencies in other studies (Suleiman 1995;Bhalla 1988;Benjamin 1995). Household male and female labour per unit of land had a significant positive effect on land productivity, showing that the labour market and the rental market for land do not redistribute these resources efficiently.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Market Imperfections and Land Productivity in the Ethiopian Highlands

Holden¹,

Shiferaw²,

Pender³

2001

J Agricultural Economics

116

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This study analyses how market imperfections affect [and productivity in a degraded lowpotential cereal-livestock economy in the Ethiopian highlands. A wide array of variables is used to control for land quality in the analysis. Results of three different selection models were compared with least squares models using the HC3 heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator. Market imperfections in labour and land markets were found to affect land productivity. Landproductivity was positively correlated with household maie and female labour force per unit of land. Female-headed households achieved much lower land productivity than male-headed households. Old age of household heads was also correlated with lower land productivity. lmpelfections in the rental market for oxen appeared to cause overstocking of oxen by some households. Conservation technologies had no significant positive short-run effect on land productivity. The main results were consistent across the different econometric models.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Market Imperfections and Land Productivity in the Ethiopian Highlands

Holden¹,

Shiferaw²,

Pender³

2001

J Agricultural Economics

116

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“…In fact, there is a vast literature in agricultural economics which finds a systematic negative correlation between soil quality and farm size (Bhalla and Roy, 1988;Bhalla, 1988;Benjamin, 1995). Regions which exhibit relatively poorer quality soil, therefore with a lower marginal value of land, experience a lower demand for land and are thus characterized by higher average farm sizes (Barrett et al, 2010;Bhalla and Roy, 1988;Bhalla, 1988). This is indeed the pattern that was followed by north-eastern European regions during the Middle Ages where the local lords, in order to attract more agricultural workers and encourage immigration, granted the peasants higher levels of freedom compared to the manorial system in the West (Rosenberg, 1943).…”

Section: The Causal Effect Of Landownership Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, we use county-level data reporting the composition of the soil in terms of clay, loam, and sand. The instrument is based on an empirical regularity that is extensively investigated in agricultural economics, and according to which there is a systematic negative correlation between soil quality and farm size (Bhalla and Roy, 1988;Bhalla, 1988;Benjamin, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landownership concentration and the expansion of education

Cinnirella

Hornung

2016

Journal of Development Economics

114

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This paper studies the effect of landownership concentration on school enrollment for nineteenth century Prussia. Prussia is an interesting laboratory given its decentralized educational system and the presence of heterogeneous agricultural institutions. We find that landownership concentration, a proxy for the institution of serfdom, has a negative effect on schooling. This effect diminishes substantially towards the end of the century. Causality of this relationship is confirmed by introducing soil texture to identify exogenous farm-size variation. Panel estimates further rule out unobserved heterogeneity. We present several robustness checks which shed some light on possible mechanisms.

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“…Yet another view is presented by Bhalla (1988), Bhalla and Roy (1988), and Benjamin (1991), among others 4 , who posit a size-sensitivity in the quality of factor endowments, especially soil fertility. These authors claim that more intensive labor use on small farms reflects primarily the superior fertility of soils on smaller plots, thereby warranting more intensive labor per unit area.…”

Section: On Price Risk and The Inverse Farm Size-productivity Relatiomentioning

confidence: 99%