IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmac/v14y2022i2p1-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Fiszbein

Abstract

This paper examines the role of agricultural diversity in the process of development. Using data from US counties and exploiting climate-induced variation in agricultural production patterns, I show that mid-nineteenth-century agricultural diversity had positive long-run effects on population density and income per capita. During the Second Industrial Revolution, agricultural diversity fostered industrialization, diversification within manufacturing, patent activity, formation of new labor skills, and the expansion of knowledge- and skill-intensive industries. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that diversity spurs the acquisition of new ideas and new skills because of the presence of cross-sector spillovers and complementarities.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Fiszbein, 2022. "Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from the United States," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 1-43, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:1-43
    DOI: 10.1257/mac.20190285
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20190285
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E119556V3
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20190285.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/mac.20190285.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/mac.20190285?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wright, Gavin, 1979. "The Efficiency of Slavery: Another Interpretation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 219-226, March.
    2. Quamrul Ashraf & Oded Galor & Ömer Özak, 2010. "Isolation and Development," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(2-3), pages 401-412, 04-05.
    3. Matsuyama, Kiminori, 1992. "Agricultural productivity, comparative advantage, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 317-334, December.
    4. Claudia Goldin & Kenneth Sokoloff, 1984. "The Relative Productivity Hypothesis of Industrialization: The American Case, 1820 to 1850," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(3), pages 461-487.
    5. Goldin, Claudia & Sokoloff, Kenneth, 1982. "Women, Children, and Industrialization in the Early Republic: Evidence from the Manufacturing Censuses," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 741-774, December.
    6. Sokoloff, Kenneth L. & Dollar, David, 1997. "Agricultural Seasonalily and the Organization of Manufacturing in Early Industrial Economies: The Contrast Between England and the United States," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 288-321, June.
    7. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2005. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," Working Papers 2005-03, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    8. Miriam Bruhn & Francisco A. Gallego, 2012. "Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Do They Matter for Economic Development?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(2), pages 433-461, May.
    9. Stanley L. Engerman & Kenneth Lee Sokoloff, 2002. "Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development Among New World Economies," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2002), pages 41-110, August.
    10. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1997. "Was Prometheus Unbound by Chance? Risk, Diversification, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(4), pages 709-751, August.
    11. Kelly, Morgan, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," CEPR Discussion Papers 13783, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Michael Kremer, 1993. "The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 551-575.
    13. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 143-179.
    14. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 2002. "Innovation and Input Sharing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 25-45, January.
    15. Paul, Catherine J. Morrison & Nehring, Richard, 2005. "Product diversification, production systems, and economic performance in U.S. agricultural production," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 525-548, June.
    16. Ricardo Hausmann & César Hidalgo, 2011. "The network structure of economic output," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 309-342, December.
    17. Raghuram G. Rajan & Rodney Ramcharan, 2011. "Land and Credit: A Study of the Political Economy of Banking in the United States in the Early 20th Century," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(6), pages 1895-1931, December.
    18. Chakraborty, Shankha & Ray, Tridip, 2007. "The development and structure of financial systems," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 2920-2956, September.
    19. Dietrich Vollrath, 2011. "The agricultural basis of comparative development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 343-370, December.
    20. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-92-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Paul W. Rhode & Koleman S. Strumpf, 2003. "Assessing the Importance of Tiebout Sorting: Local Heterogeneity from 1850 to 1990," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1648-1677, December.
    22. Morgan Kelly, 2019. "The Standard Errors of Persistence," Working Papers 201913, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    23. Unknown, 1961. "The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development," International Journal of Agrarian Affairs, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 3(2), pages 1-1, April.
    24. Colella, Fabrizio & Lalive, Rafael & Sakalli, Seyhun Orcan & Thoenig, Mathias, 2019. "Inference with Arbitrary Clustering," IZA Discussion Papers 12584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    25. Vollrath, Dietrich, 2013. "Inequality and school funding in the rural United States, 1890," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 267-284.
    26. Ramcharan Rodney, 2010. "The Link between the Economic Structure and Financial Development," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-37, May.
    27. Chavas, Jean-Paul & Aliber, Michael, 1993. "An Analysis Of Economic Efficiency In Agriculture: A Nonparametric Approach," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 18(1), pages 1-16, July.
    28. Tasso Adamopoulos, 2008. "Land Inequality and the Transition to Modern Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(2), pages 257-282, April.
    29. Kwansoo Kim & Jean-Paul Chavas & Bradford Barham & Jeremy Foltz, 2012. "Specialization, diversification, and productivity: a panel data analysis of rice farms in Korea," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 43(6), pages 687-700, November.
    30. Juan R. Cuadrado-Roura & Begoña García-Greciano & José Luis Raymond, 1999. "Regional Convergence in Productivity and Productive Structure: The Spanish Case," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 35-53, April.
    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. Chan, Jeff, 2023. "Forced displacement and migrants' location choices: Evidence from the Japanese-Canadian experience during World War II," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 206-240.
    2. Jung, Yeonha, 2023. "Formation of the legacy of slavery: Evidence from the US South," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    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. Martin Fiszbein, 2017. "Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change and Long-run Development: Evidence from the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Droller, Federico & Fiszbein, Martin, 2021. "Staple Products, Linkages, and Development: Evidence from Argentina," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(3), pages 723-762, September.
    3. de Souza, Joao Paulo A., 2015. "Evidence of growth complementarity between agriculture and industry in developing countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-18.
    4. Vitantonio Mariella, 2023. "Landownership concentration and human capital accumulation in post-unification Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1695-1764, July.
    5. Jung, Yeonha, 2018. "How The Legacy of Slavery Has Survived: A Mechanism through Labor Market Institutions and Human Capital," SocArXiv snpg2, Center for Open Science.
    6. Jung, Yeonha, 2020. "The long reach of cotton in the US South: Tenant farming, mechanization, and low-skill manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    7. Remi Jedwab & Felix Meier zu Selhausen & Alexander Moradi, 2022. "The economics of missionary expansion: evidence from Africa and implications for development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 149-192, June.
    8. Aguirre, Alvaro, 2019. "Rebellions, Technical Change, and the Early Development of Political Institutions in Latin America," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 65-89.
    9. Francesco Cinnirella & Alireza Naghavi & Giovanni Prarolo, 2023. "Islam and human capital in historical Spain," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 225-257, June.
    10. Guilló, Maria Dolores & Perez-Sebastian, Fidel, 2015. "Neoclassical growth and the natural resource curse puzzle," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 423-435.
    11. Oded Galor, 2009. "2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture ñComparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory," Working Papers 2009-10, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    12. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Sánchez, Fabio & Villaveces, Marta-Juanita, 2017. "The paradox of land reform, inequality and development in Colombia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69207, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Madsen, Jakob & Strulik, Holger, 2020. "Technological change and inequality in the very long run," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Marc Goñi, 2023. "Landed elites and education provision in England: evidence from school boards, 1871-99," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 125-171, March.
    15. Baten, Joerg & Llorca-Jaña, Manuel, 2021. "Inequality, low-intensity immigration and human capital formation in the regions of Chile, 1820-1939," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    16. Jung, Yeonha, 2023. "Formation of the legacy of slavery: Evidence from the US South," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Enrico Perotti, 2013. "The Political Economy of Finance," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-034/IV/DSF53, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Chu, Angus C. & Peretto, Pietro F. & Wang, Xilin, 2022. "Agricultural revolution and industrialization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    19. Raghuram G. Rajan & Rodney Ramcharan, 2016. "Constituencies and Legislation: The Fight Over the McFadden Act of 1927," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(7), pages 1843-1859, July.
    20. Oded Galor, 2010. "The 2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture-Comparative Economic Development: Insights From Unified Growth Theory," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(1), pages 1-44, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N51 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N52 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N91 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General

    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:aea:aejmac:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:1-43. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.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.