Seasonality, Capital Inflexibility, And The Industrialization Of Animal Production

Among the prominent recognized features of the industrialization of animal production over the past half century are growth in the stock of inflexible or use-dedicated capital as an input in production and growth in productivity. Less recognized is a trend toward aseasonal production. We record the deseasonalization of animal production in the United States and Europe over the past 70 years. We also suggest that (a) lower seasonality can precede or Granger-cause increased productivity because of increased capital intensity, and (b) productivity improvements can Granger-cause lower seasonality. Process (a) should be more likely earlier in the industrialization process. For U.S. dairy production, our empirical tests find some evidence that process (a) operated early in the twentieth century while process (b) operated in more recent times.