IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/icr/wpicer/13-2000.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The diffusion of the tractor in American Agriculture: 1910-1960

Author

Listed:
  • Alan L. Olmstead
  • Paul W. Rhode

Abstract

This paper examines the impact and diffusion of the gasoline tractor in American agriculture. A key feature of the transition from horses to tractors was a long intermediate stage when both modes of power were used on the same farm. This is largely explained in the technical limitations of early tractors. In addition, we explore how rural markets and institutions adjusted to facilitate diffusion. Our simultaneous-equation regression analysis reveals that farm scale and tractor adoption had positive, independent effects on each other. Finally, we analyze diffusion as a capital replacement problem, which reveals that the shift to the new technology came far sooner than has generally been thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan L. Olmstead & Paul W. Rhode, 2000. "The diffusion of the tractor in American Agriculture: 1910-1960," ICER Working Papers 13-2000, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:icr:wpicer:13-2000
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/icr/wp2000/Olmstead132000.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cooper, Martin R. & Barton, Glen T. & Brodell, Albert P., 1947. "Progress of Farm Mechanization," Miscellaneous Publications 314796, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Reynoldson, L. A. & Humphries, W. R. & Speelman, S. R. & McComas, Earl W. & Youngman, W. H., 1933. "Utilization and Cost of Power on Corn Belt Farms," Technical Bulletins 163614, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Balke, Nathan S & Gordon, Robert J, 1989. "The Estimation of Prewar Gross National Product: Methodology and New Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(1), pages 38-92, February.
    4. John M. Brewster, 1950. "The Machine Process in Agriculture and Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 32(1), pages 69-81.
    5. Fox, Austin, 1966. "Demand for Farm Tractors in the United States: A Regression Analysis," Agricultural Economic Reports 307318, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Whatley, Warren C., 1984. "Institutional Change and Mechanization in the Cotton South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 614-616, June.
    7. Olmstead, Alan L. & Rhode, Paul W., 1995. "Beyond the Threshold: An Analysis of the Characteristics and Behavior of Early Reaper Adopters," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 27-57, March.
    8. Abel, Andrew B., 1990. "Consumption and investment," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 725-778, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heckman, James J. & Landerso, Rasmus, 2021. "Lessons from Denmark about Inequality and Social Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 14185, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Lafortune, Jeanne & Tessada, José & González-Velosa, Carolina, 2015. "More hands, more power? Estimating the impact of immigration on output and technology choices using early 20th century US agriculture," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 339-358.

    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. Alan L. Olmstead & Paul W. Rhode, 2000. "The Diffusion of the Tractor in American Agriculture: 1910-60," NBER Working Papers 7947, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Joseph H. Davis & Christopher Hanes & Paul W. Rhode, 2009. "Harvests and Business Cycles in Nineteenth-Century America," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 124(4), pages 1675-1727.
    3. Stavros Panageas & Nicolae Garleanu, 2008. "Yooung, Old, Conservative and Bold: The implications of finite lives and heterogeneity for asset prices," 2008 Meeting Papers 409, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. D. Gale Johnson, 2000. "Agricultural Adjustment in China: Problems and Prospects," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(2), pages 319-334, June.
    5. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2017. "Impact of Policy Uncertainty on Consumption and Saving Behavior: Evidence from a survey on consumers," Discussion papers 17075, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Gang Gong, 2005. "Modeling Stabilization Policies In A Financially Unstable Economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 281-304, July.
    7. Vittorio Bassi & Raffaela Muoio & Tommaso Porzio & Ritwika Sen & Esau Tugume, 2022. "Achieving Scale Collectively," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2937-2978, November.
    8. Brainerd, Elizabeth & Siegler, Mark V, 2003. "The Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 3791, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Martin Lettau & Sydney C. Ludvigson & Jessica A. Wachter, 2008. "The Declining Equity Premium: What Role Does Macroeconomic Risk Play?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 1653-1687, July.
    10. Khavarinejad , Abolfazl, 2009. "Estimation of Gross Domestic Product of Iran (1906-1935)," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 5(3), pages 81-127, July.
    11. Richard G. Anderson & Felix Andrist & Marcela M. Williams, 2000. "Real output in Switzerland: new estimates for 1914-47," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 82(May), pages 43-70.
    12. Perez, Stephen J. & Siegler, Mark V., 2006. "Agricultural and monetary shocks before the great depression: A graph-theoretic causal investigation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 720-736, December.
    13. Magni, Carlo Alberto, 2007. "Investment decisions, equivalent risk and bounded rationality," MPRA Paper 6073, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Anderson Jock R. & Birner Regina & Nagarajan Latha & Naseem Anwar & Pray Carl E., 2021. "Private Agricultural R&D: Do the Poor Benefit?," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 3-14, May.
    15. Juan J. Dolado & Jesús Gonzalo & Laura Mayoral, 2005. "What is What? A Simple Time-Domain Test of Long-memory vs. Structural Breaks," Working Papers 258, Barcelona School of Economics.
    16. Jon Cohen & Kinda Hachem & Gary Richardson, 2021. "Relationship Lending and the Great Depression," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 505-520, July.
    17. Sara Ratna Qanti & Thomas Reardon & Arief Iswariyadi, 2017. "Triangle of Linkages among Modernising Markets, Sprayer–traders, and Mango-farming Intensification in Indonesia," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 187-208, May.
    18. Carter, Michael R. & Zimmerman, Frederick J., 2000. "The dynamic cost and persistence of asset inequality in an agrarian economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 265-302, December.
    19. Andreas Hornstein, 2004. "(Un)balanced growth," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 90(Fall), pages 25-45.
    20. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson & Robert Barro & José Ursúa, 2013. "Crises and Recoveries in an Empirical Model of Consumption Disasters," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 35-74, July.

    More about this item

    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:icr:wpicer:13-2000. 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: Daniele Pennesi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/icerrit.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.