IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/ucbecw/25086.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role Of Agriculture In Economic Development: Visible And Invisible Surplus Transfers

Author

Listed:
  • Winters, Paul C.
  • de Janvry, Alain
  • Sadoulet, Elisabeth
  • Stamoulis, Kostas G.

Abstract

The financial surplus of agriculture has been central to theories of the role of agriculture in economic development. Morrisson and Thorbecke (MT) have used a constant-price social accounting matrix (SAM) framework to rigorously measure the financial surplus of agriculture and decompose the mechanisms of surplus extraction. History and theory have, however, stressed the role of prices as an invisible transfer mechanism in addition to the visible transfers identified in the SAM framework. We extend the MT approach by defining and measuring the real surplus of agriculture and decomposing the mechanisms of surplus extraction between visible and invisible financial transfers. Using an archetype computable general equilibrium model for poor African nations, we trace the generation, transfer, and use of an agricultural surplus created by a productivity gain in agriculture. This shows that prices indeed play an overwhelmingly important role in transferring a surplus from agriculture to the benefit of the rest of the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Winters, Paul C. & de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Stamoulis, Kostas G., 1997. "The Role Of Agriculture In Economic Development: Visible And Invisible Surplus Transfers," CUDARE Working Papers 25086, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ucbecw:25086
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.25086
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/25086/files/wp814.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.25086?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quizon, Jaime & Binswanger, Hans, 1986. "Modeling the Impact of Agricultural Growth and Government Policy on Income Distribution in India," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 1(1), pages 103-148, September.
    2. Krueger, Anne O & Schiff, Maurice & Valdes, Alberto, 1988. "Agricultural Incentives in Developing Countries: Measuring the Effect of Sectoral and Economywide Policies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 2(3), pages 255-271, September.
    3. Alain Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 1989. "Growth and Equity in Agriculture-led Growth," International Economic Association Series, in: Irma Adelman & Sylvia Lane (ed.), The Balance between Industry and Agriculture in Economic Development, chapter 5, pages 81-96, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Lele, Uma & Mellor, John W, 1981. "Technological Change, Distributive Bias and Labor Transfer in a Two-Sector Economy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(3), pages 426-441, November.
    5. Per Pinstrup-Andersen & Norha Ruiz de Londoño & Edward Hoover, 1976. "The Impact of Increasing Food Supply on Human Nutrition: Implications for Commodity Priorities in Agricultural Research and Policy," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 58(2), pages 133-142.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Murgai, Rinku, 2002. "Rural development and rural policy," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 31, pages 1593-1658, Elsevier.
    2. Barrett, Christopher B., 1999. "The microeconomics of the developmental paradox: on the political economy of food price policy," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 159-172, March.
    3. Badiane, Ousmane, 1990. "The Role of Agriculture and Trade In Economic Development," 1990 Symposium, Agricultural Restructuring in Southern Africa, July 24-27, 1990, Swakopmund, Namibia 183495, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Öner Günçavdi & Suat Küçükçi̇fçi̇ & Ayşe Aylin Bayar, 2013. "Economic Development And Structural Change: The Role Of The Agriculture Sector In Turkey," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(02), pages 1-29.
    5. Schiff, Maurice*Valdes, Alberto, 1998. "Agriculture and the macroeconomy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1967, The World Bank.
    6. Delpeuch, Claire & Vandeplas, Anneleen, 2013. "Revisiting the “Cotton Problem”—A Comparative Analysis of Cotton Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 209-221.
    7. Olper, Alessandro & Curzi, Daniele & Swinnen, Johan, 2018. "Trade liberalization and child mortality: A Synthetic Control Method," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 394-410.
    8. Catherine Araujo-Bonjean & Gérard Chambas, 2001. "Le paradoxe de la fiscalité agricole en Afrique subsaharienne," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 42(168), pages 773-788.
    9. Florence Contré & Ian Goldin, 1991. "L'agriculture en période d'ajustement au Brésil," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 32(126), pages 271-302.
    10. Nguezet, Paul Martin Dontsop & Diagne, Aliou & Okoruwa, Victor Olusegun & Ojehomon, Vivian, 2011. "Impact of Improved Rice Technology (NERICA varieties) on Income and Poverty among Rice Farming Households in Nigeria: A Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) Approach," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 50(3), pages 1-25.
    11. Barrett, Christopher B., 1999. "The effects of real exchange rate depreciation on stochastic producer prices in low-income agriculture," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 215-230, May.
    12. Olivier Cadot & Jaime de Melo & Patrick Plane & Laurent Wagner & Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael, 2016. "Industrialisation et transformation structurelle : l’Afrique subsaharienne peut-elle se développer sans usines ?," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 24(2), pages 19-49.
    13. Catherine Laroche-Dupraz & Marilyne Huchet, 2013. "Impact of domestic support and border measures for developing countries’ food security," Post-Print hal-01123056, HAL.
    14. T. Ademola OYEJIDE, 2000. "Interests And Options Of Developing And Least-Developed Countries In A New Round Of Multilateral Trade Negotiations," G-24 Discussion Papers 2, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    15. Kim, Kwansoo & Barham, Bradford L. & Coxhead, Ian, 2001. "Measuring soil quality dynamics: A role for economists, and implications for economic analysis," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 13-26, June.
    16. Coxhead, Ian A. & Jayasuriya, Sisira, 2003. "Trade, Liberalization, Resource Degradation and Industrial Pollution in Developing Countries: An Integrated Analysis," Staff Papers 12691, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    17. Rausser, Gordon C. & de Janvry, Alain & Schmitz, Andrew & Zilberman, David D., 1980. "Principal issues in the evaluation of public research in agriculture," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt74v9m7dh, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    18. Delpeuch, Claire & Leblois, Antoine, 2014. "The Elusive Quest for Supply Response to Cash-Crop Market Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Cotton," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 521-537.
    19. Anne O. Krueger & David Orsmond, 1990. "Impact of Government on Growth and Trade," NBER Working Papers 3545, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Driouchi, Ahmed, 2009. "Failure of Participation & “Missing Women” in South Mediterranean Economies," MPRA Paper 21541, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Mar 2010.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Development;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ucbecw:25086. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dabrkus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.