IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/halshs-00564567.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Explaining Productivity Differentials in Eastern European Agriculture: Efficiency or Class Structure ?

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Louis Arcand

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Daniela Borodak

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper considers whether it is differences in technical efficiency or differences in factor endowments that explain productivity differentials in Moldovan agriculture. We compute non-parametric measures of technical efficiency for a sample of Moldovan small-holders using the four-step Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach suggested by Fried, Schmidt and Yaisawang (1999). We also consider a model of class structure inspired by the work of Eswaran and Kotwal (1986), and estimate a bivariate probit model that explains a household's labor market participation decisions (and hence class membership) in terms of its factor endowments. These constructs are then used in an effort to understand the determinants of output per hectare in Moldovan agriculture. We find that differences in technical efficiency explain very little of the great heterogeneity in productivity observed in our sample, while class membership is slightly more successful. Our empirical model of class structure suggests that self sufficient households will disappear and be replaced by a class of small capitalist farmers as land and credit markets develop.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Louis Arcand & Daniela Borodak, 2011. "Explaining Productivity Differentials in Eastern European Agriculture: Efficiency or Class Structure ?," Working Papers halshs-00564567, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00564567
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00564567
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00564567/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ngwenya, S.A. & Battese, George E. & Fleming, Euan M., 1997. "The Relationship Between Farm Size and Technical Inefficiency of Production of Wheat Farmers in the Eastern Free State, Province of South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 36(3), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Gallagher, Marcos & Goetz, Stephan J. & Debertin, David L., 1997. "Efficiency Effects of Institutional Factors: Limited-Resource Farms in Northeast Argentina," 1997 Occasional Paper Series No. 7 198047, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Jones, Derek & Klinedinst, Mark & Rock, Charles, 1998. "Productive Efficiency during Transition: Evidence from Bulgarian Panel Data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 446-464, September.
    4. Nivelin Noev & Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2004. "Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," Chapters, in: Kym Anderson (ed.), The World's Wine Markets, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Erik Mathijs & Johan F. M. Swinnen, 2001. "Production Organization And Efficiency During Transition: An Empirical Analysis Of East German Agriculture," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 100-107, February.
    6. Brada, Josef C & King, Arthur E, 1993. "Is Private Farming More Efficient Than Socialized Agriculture?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 60(237), pages 41-56, February.
    7. Harold Fried & Shelton Schmidt & Suthathip Yaisawarng, 1999. "Incorporating the Operating Environment Into a Nonparametric Measure of Technical Efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 249-267, November.
    8. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-498, June.
    9. Piesse, Jenifer & Thirtle, Colin & Turk, Jernej, 1996. "Efficiency and Ownership in Slovene Dairying: A Comparison of Econometric and Programming Techniques," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-22, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Laure Latruffe & Hervé Guyomard & Chantal Le Mouël, 2009. "The role of public subsidies on farms’ managerial efficiency: An application of a five-stage approach to France," Working Papers SMART 09-05, INRAE UMR SMART.
    2. Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2005. "Agricultural transformation: Lessons from experience," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 44(1), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Georgeta Vidican-Sgouridis & Annette Kim, 2008. "From Workers to Owners: Survey Evidence on the Impact of Property Rights Reforms on Small Farmers in Two Regions in Romania," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp905, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    4. Dries, Liesbeth & Swinnen, Johan F. M., 2002. "Institutional Reform and Labor Reallocation During Transition: Theory Evidence From Polish Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 457-474, March.
    5. Pieters, Hannah & Swinnen, Johan, 2016. "Trading-off volatility and distortions? Food policy during price spikes," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 27-39.
    6. Dimara, Efthalia & Pantzios, Christos J. & Skuras, Dimitris & Tsekouras, Kostas, 2005. "The impacts of regulated notions of quality on farm efficiency: A DEA application," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 416-431, March.
    7. Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Jensen, Helen H., 1998. "Technical Efficiency Of Grain Production In Ukraine," 1998 Annual meeting, August 2-5, Salt Lake City, UT 20974, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Ajuruchukwu Obi & Balogun Taofeek Ayodeji, 2020. "Determinants of Economic Farm-Size–Efficiency Relationship in Smallholder Maize Farms in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Rozelle, Scott & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2000. "Transition And Agriculture," Working Papers 11948, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    10. Cherchye, Laurens & Van Puyenbroeck, Tom, 2007. "Profit efficiency analysis under limited information with an application to German farm types," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 335-349, June.
    11. Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel, 2002. "Farm Strategy, Self-Selection and Productivity: Can Small Farming Groups Offer Production Benefits to Farmers in Post-Socialist Romania?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1737-1753, October.
    12. L. Kurkalova & A. Carriquiry, 2003. "Input- and Output-Oriented Technical Efficiency of Ukrainian Collective Farms, 1989–1992: Bayesian Analysis of a Stochastic Production Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 191-211, September.
    13. Erik Mathijs & Johan F. M. Swinnen, 2001. "Production Organization And Efficiency During Transition: An Empirical Analysis Of East German Agriculture," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 100-107, February.
    14. Franz R. Hahn, 2007. "Determinants of Bank Efficiency in Europe. Assessing Bank Performance Across Markets," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 31499, April.
    15. Bardhan, Pranab & Luca, Michael & Mookherjee, Dilip & Pino, Francisco, 2014. "Evolution of land distribution in West Bengal 1967–2004: Role of land reform and demographic changes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 171-190.
    16. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    17. Wollni, Meike & Brümmer, Bernhard, 2012. "Productive efficiency of specialty and conventional coffee farmers in Costa Rica: Accounting for technological heterogeneity and self-selection," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 67-76.
    18. Astrid Cullmann & Jens Schmidt-Ehmcke & Petra Zloczysti, 2012. "R&D efficiency and barriers to entry: a two stage semi-parametric DEA approach," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 176-196, January.
    19. De Janvry,Alain F., 2015. "Quantifying through ex post assessments the micro-level impacts of sovereign disaster risk financing and insurance programs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7356, The World Bank.
    20. Nolwenn Roudaut & Anne Vanhems, 2012. "Explaining firms efficiency in the Ivorian manufacturing sector: a robust nonparametric approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 155-169, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    transaction costs; Technical efficiency; household model; transitional economy; agrarian reform;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:wpaper:halshs-00564567. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.