On Agricultural Productivity Differences among Countries

Abstract

The sources of agricultural productivity differences among countries have been examined extensively by Professors Hayami and Ruttan in their important work published in 1971 (Hayami and Ruttan, chap. 5. See also their 1970 article.) Their method involved the estimation of an aggregate agricultural production function based on intercountry crosssection data for the period centered on 1960, using average per farm data and national aggregate data separately. Further, that study involved the estimation of the per worker production function where data for the years 1955 (1952-56 averages), 1960, and 1965 (1962-66 averages) were used either separately or pooled. The estimation with the pooled samples enabled Hayami and Ruttan to test the stability of the agricultural production function over the 1955-60-65 period using the analysis of covariance method.