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The Diffusion of Tractor Technology

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  • MARTINI, DINAH DUFFY
  • SILBERBERG, EUGENE

Abstract

A substantial literature exists claiming the adoption of tractors was inefficiently slow. We develop a linear programming model of farms that specifically incorporates the opportunity cost of the farmer's time and apply it to farms in Iowa during the interwar period. We develop technological coefficients derived at the task level, based on the data and agricultural reports from that period. By valuing the time saved by tractors, we demonstrate that the seemingly slow rate of tractor adoption was in fact wealth maximizing. Tractors were widely adopted only after the improvement in implements that came late in this period.

Suggested Citation

  • Martini, Dinah Duffy & Silberberg, Eugene, 2006. "The Diffusion of Tractor Technology," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 354-389, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:66:y:2006:i:02:p:354-389_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Byron Lew & Bruce Cater, 2018. "Farm mechanization on an otherwise ‘featureless’ plain: tractors on the Northern Great Plains and immigration policy of the 1920s," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 12(2), pages 181-218, May.
    2. Daniel P. Gross, 2018. "Scale versus scope in the diffusion of new technology: evidence from the farm tractor," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(2), pages 427-452, June.

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