Part I. Dilemmas of Agrarian Reform in Russia: 1. Imperial reform, 1861-1913 2. The NEP and Soviet era reforms, 1921-89 3. Transition agrarian reform, 1991-2008 Part II. Russian Law and Rural Organization, 1861-2008: 4. Property rights reform 5. Rural organization and entrepreneurship Part. III. Russian Agricultural Performance, 1861-2008: 6. Technology and farming culture 7. The productivity of Russian agriculture Conclusion Appendices.

/pdf/agrarian-reform-in-russia-the-road-from-serfdom-20wlb4p6dv.pdf

Agrarian Reform in Russia: The Road from Serfdom

In recent contributions to this Review, Lawrence Lau and Pan Yotopoulos (L-Y) applied the profit function concept to the analysis of relative efficiency of Indian agriculture. They developed an operational model to measure and compare economic efficiency and its components of technical efficiency and price (or allocative) efficiency for groups of firms. By comparing the actual profit functions of small and large farms at given output and input prices and fixed quantities of land and capital, they found that smaller farms had higher profits (total revenue minus the total cost of the variable factors of production, in this case labor) than larger farms within the range of output studied and hence were economically more efficient. Further, they were able to show that the relative economic superiority of small farms was due to their technical efficiency since both tvpes of farms were price efficient. Their results also indicate constant returns to scale in Indian agriculture. Both these findings have far-reaching implications for the optimal allocative structure of Indian agriculture. In this paper, the L-Y model is confronted with new and recent data for wheat farms' in the Indian Punjab. My results run counter to their findings in that I do not find any differences in the economic efficiency (or its components of technical efficiency and price efficiency) of small and large wheat farms. Using their model, I also compare the economic performance of old Indian wheat varieties with Mexican varieties, and tractoroperated with non-tractor-operated wheat farms. The last mentioned two comparisons have considerable relevance in the context of the "green revolution" and the absorption of a rapidly growing labor force in India and other LDCs. Section I of the present paper establishes a link between my estimation procedure and the L-Y model and briefly describes the data and the variables. Section II provides empirical estimates, derives the implications of these results, and compares them with those of L-Y. Section III summarizes my conclusions.

Relative Efficiency in Wheat Production in the Indian Punjab

It is not ... the new technology which is the primary cause of the accentuated imbalances in the countryside. It is not the fault of the new technology that the credit service does not serve those for whom it was originally intended; that the extension services are not living up to expectations; that the panchayats are political rather than development bodies; that security of tenure is a luxury of the few; that rents are exorbitant; that for the greater part tenurial legislation is deliberately miscarried; or that wage scales are hardly sufficient to keep soul and body together. [25] Wolf Ladejinsky--1969

/pdf/technical-change-and-the-distribution-of-income-in-rural-2pys76l9fa.pdf

Technical Change and the Distribution of Income in Rural Areas

Johnston, Bruce F., Agriculture and Economic Development: The Relevance of the Japanese Experience

This paper quantifies the cropping intensity effects of tractors and tubewells in the Indian Punjab. In addition to the conventional measure of cropping intensity, a new index, which takes account of the time duration of crops grown, is specified. The advantage of tractor ownership vs. hiring the machine is also assessed as are the effects of farm size and agro‐climatic zones. Relative to bullocks and canal irrigation, tractors and tubewells are respectively found to be associated with higher cropping intensities, as measured by both indices. Owned tractors have an advantage over hired ones and the effect of tubewells is substantially greater than of tractors.

Tractors, tubewells and cropping intensity in the Indian Punjab

The short-stemmed varieties of wheat and rice imported from abroad and the increased use of fertilizers have dramatically enlarged the potential for rapid increases in the agricultural output of West Pakistan. This recent breakthrough in food-grains production is sometimes referred to as the ‘green revolution’. Because of the generally favourable conditions in West Pakistan in regard to irrigation water and solar energy, and of the unusually favourable weather in 1967/8 in particular, the ‘green revolution’ is spreading very rapidly. It is high time to focus our attention on some of the economic implications of the new developments in agriculture.

Economic Implications of the ‘Green Revolution’ and the Strategy of Agricultural Development in West Pakistan

Economic Implications of the "Green Revolution: and the Strategy of Agricultural Development in West Pakistan

/pdf/economic-implications-of-the-green-revolution-and-the-3ranpgp8d9.pdf

Hiromitsu Kaneda

Papers

Economic Implications of the ‘Green Revolution’ and the Strategy of Agricultural Development in West Pakistan

Economic Implications of the "Green Revolution: and the Strategy of Agricultural Development in West Pakistan

Economic Implications of the ‘Green Revolution’ and the Strategy of Agricultural Development in West Pakistan