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A meta-analysis of rates of return to agricultural R & D: ex pede Herculem?

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Author Info
Alston, Julian M.
Wyatt, T. J.
Pardey, Philip G.
Marra, Michele C.
Chan-Kang, Connie

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Abstract

IFPRI has long argued that spending on agricultural research constitutes a sound investment in poverty reduction and agricultural and economic growth, through improvements in productivity. This argument is based partly on the reported evidence of high rates of return to agricultural research, typically believed to be in the range of 40–60 percent per year. Yet there continues to be controversy over whether these figures are to be believed, and over what they actually indicate. This study represents the first attempt to take a comprehensive look at all the available evidence on rates of return to investments in agricultural R&D since 1953, and the only attempt to do so in a formal statistical fashion. This report has compiled and documented the literature in ways that make it more accessible and more useful to other researchers and policymakers, as well as others interested in the evidence. The analysis reveals some systematic patterns and some sources of biases that make it easier to interpret the evidence and draw meaningful conclusions. (Excerpted from Summary by Per Pinstrup-Andersen)

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Paper provided by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in its series Research reports with number 113.

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Date of creation: 2000
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Handle: RePEc:fpr:resrep:113

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Keywords: Development projects Evaluation.; Agricultural research; Statistics.; Agricultural economics and policies;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Pardey, Philip G. & Roseboom, Johannes & Beintema, Nienke M., 1997. "Investments in african agricultural research," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 409-423, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Fullerton, Don, 1991. "Reconciling Recent Estimates of the Marginal Welfare Cost of Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 302-08, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Alston, Julian M. & Pardey, Philip G. & Roseboom, Johannes, 1998. "Financing agricultural research: International investment patterns and policy perspectives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1057-1071, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Pardey, Philip G. & Alston, Julian M. & Christian, Jason E. & Fan, Shenggen., 1996. "Hidden harvest," Food policy reports 6, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  5. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  6. Ballard, Charles L & Fullerton, Don, 1992. "Distortionary Taxes and the Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 117-31, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Alston, Julian M. & Venner, Raymond J., 2000. "The effects of the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act on wheat genetic improvement:," EPTD discussion papers 62, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Moschini, GianCarlo & Lapan, Harvey, 2002. "Intellectual Property Rights and the Welfare Effects of Agricultural R & D," Staff General Research Papers 5048, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  9. Michael Harris & Alan Lloyd, 1991. "The Returns to Agricultural Research and the Underinvestment Hypothesis - A Survey," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 24(3), pages 16-27. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ryan, James G., 2003. "Evaluating the impact of agricultural projection modeling using the "IMPACT” framework," Impact assessments 17, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  2. GianCarlo Moschini, 2001. "Economic Benefits and Costs of Biotechnology Innovations in Agriculture," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 01-wp264, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Birner, Regina & Davis, Kristin & Pender, John & Nkonya, Ephraim & Anandajayasekeram, Ponniah & Ekboir, Javier & Mbabu, Adiel & Spielman, David & Horna, Daniela & Benin, Samuel & Cohen, Marc J., 2006. "From "best practice" to "best fit": a framework for designing and analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services worldwide," DSGD discussion papers 37, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Moschini, Giancarlo, 2001. "Biotech--Who Wins? Economic Benefits and Costs of Biotechnology Innovations in Agriculture," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 2(1). [Downloadable!]
  5. Pardey, Philip G. & Beintema, Nienke M., 2001. "Slow magic," Food policy reports 13, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. McMillan, Margaret S. & Masters, William A., 2000. "An African Growth Trap: Production Technology And The Time-Consistency Of Agricultural Taxation, R&D And Investment," Miscellaneous Papers 11839, Agecon Search. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Carl E. Pray & Anwar Naseem, 2003. "The Economics of Agricultural Biotechnology," Working Papers 03-07, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA). [Downloadable!]
  8. Fan, Shenggen, 2002. "Agricultural research and urban poverty in India:," EPTD discussion papers 94, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  9. T. Walker & R. Pitoro & A. Tomo & I. Sitoe & C. Salência & R. Mahanzule & C. Donovan & F. Mazuze, 2006. "Definição de Prioridades na Investigação Agrária no Moçambique Baseado nos Dados do Trabalho do Inquérito Agrícola (TIA) (Priority Setting for Public-Sector Agricultural Research in Mozambique," International Development Collaborative Working Papers MZ-IIAM-RR-3P, Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University. [Downloadable!]
  10. Poulton, Colin & Dorward, A. & Jowett, A. & Peacock, C. & Urey, I., 2004. "Priorities and Preconditions for Successful Investment in Smallholder Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2004 Inaugural Symposium, December 6-8, 2004, Nairobi, Kenya 9516, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE). [Downloadable!]
  11. Lipton, Michael, 2005. "The family farm in a globalizing world: the role of crop science in alleviating poverty," 2020 vision discussion papers 40, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  12. T. Walker & R. Pitoro & A. Tomo & I. Sitoe & C. Salência & R. Mahanzule & C. Donovan & F. Mazuze, 2006. "Priority Setting for Public-Sector Agricultural Research in Mozambique with the National Agricultural Survey Data," International Development Collaborative Working Papers MZ-IIAM-RR-3E, Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University. [Downloadable!]
  13. Stein, A.J. & Qaim, M. & Meenakshi, J.V. & Nestel, P. & Sachdev, H.P.S. & Bhutta, Z.A., 2006. "Potential Impacts of Iron Biofortification in India," Research in Development Economics and Policy (Discussion Paper Series) 8536, Universitaet Hohenheim, Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Pardey, Philip G. & Beintema, Nienke M., 2002. "Slow Magic: Agricultural R&D A Century After Mendel," Working Papers 14364, University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy. [Downloadable!]
  15. Crosson, Pierre & Anderson, Jock, 2002. "Technologies for Meeting Future Global Demands for Food," Discussion Papers dp-02-02-, Resources For the Future. [Downloadable!]
  16. Pardey, Philip G. & Koo, Bonwoo & Nottenburg, Carol, 2004. "Creating, Protecting, And Using Crop Biotechnologies Worldwide In An Era Of Intellectual Property," Staff Papers 13600, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics. [Downloadable!]
  17. Pardey, Philip G. & Beintema, Nienke M. & Dehmer, Steven & Wood, Stanley, 2006. "Agricultural research: a growing global divide?," Food policy reports 17, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  18. Anderson, Jock R. & Bos, Maria Soledad & Cohen, Marc J., 2005. "Impact assessment of food policy research a stocktaking workshop: synthesis report," Impact assessments 25, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  19. Julia Hall & Grant M Scobie, 2006. "The Role of R&D in Productivity Growth: The Case of Agriculture in New Zealand: 1927 to 2001," Treasury Working Paper Series 06/01, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  20. Lopez, Ramon & Islam, Asif, 2008. "When Government Spending Serves the Elites: Consequences for Economic Growth in a Context of Market Imperfections," Working Papers 45875, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. [Downloadable!]
  21. Hazell, Peter B. R. & Johnson, Michael, 2002. "Ending hunger in Africa," Issue briefs 10, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  22. Fan, Shenggen & Fang, Cheng & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2001. "How Agricultural Research Affects Urban Poverty In Developing Countries? The Case Of China," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20636, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
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