A Comparison of Intercountry Agricultural Production Functions: A Frontier Function Approach

Unlike the work by Hayami and Ruttan in the 1970s, this study utilizes frontier meta- production functions to study intercountry agricultural productivity differences. Technical efficiency differences are examined through estimation of deterministic and stochastic frontiers for 43 countries over 1960, 1970 and 1980. In most cases, developed countries on average have higher technical efficiency levels. However, not all developed countries are fully technically efficient while certain developing countries perform comparably with other developed countries. The results also show that the productivity gap between developing and developed countries has increased over time. Yet there is potential to improve productivity of developing countries, especially by expanding their human capital stock, as indicated by high output elasticities for primary and secondary education and technical education.