Productivity Patterns and Research Benefits

Abstract

In Chapter 10 we reported the results from estimating models of productivity as a function of variables representing agricultural research and extension knowledge stocks. Various transformations of these models can be used to derive implications that are of interest to economists and policymakers. For instance, we can use the estimated model to evaluate the roles of policies in influencing the pas time path and spatial pattern of agricultural productivity. Alternatively, we can use the model to evaluate the future time path and spatial pattern of agricultural productivity given actual past and likely future research spending patterns or alternative counterfactual spending patterns. Or, we can compare productivity patterns under alternative scenarios of research spending patterns and infer measures such as benefit-cost ratios or internal rates of return.