Publications [#141380] of Marc Bellemare
Sanford Institute Working Papers
- Marc F. Bellemare and Janet Y. Hou. "Inverse Productivity Relationship and Omitted Variables: Evidence from Madagascar." (January, 2008).
(last updated on 2008/01/03)Abstract:
The existence of an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity is one of the oldest puzzles in development economics. Three well-regarded explanations for this inverse relationship are (i) the presence of imperfect factor markets; (ii) measurement error, or (iii) the omission of precise measures of soil quality in the estimation of farm-level production functions. For the first time, such measures (i.e., carbon, nitrogen, and potassium percentages; soil pH; and silt, sand, and clay percentages) are available for the purpose of being used as inputs in a production function to show that the inverse productivity relationship is not the result of an omitted variable bias.
