Abstract
Has the golden age of U.S. agricultural productivity growth ended? We analyze the detailed patterns of productivity growth spanning a century of profound changes in American agriculture. We document a substantial slowing of U.S. farm productivity growth, following a late mid-century surge-20 years after the surge and slowdown in U.S. industrial productivity growth. We posit and empirically probe three related explanations for this farm productivity surge-slowdown: The time path of agricultural R&D-driven knowledge stocks; a big wave of technological progress associated with great clusters of inventions; and dynamic aspects of the structural transformation of agriculture, largely completed by 1980.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 114-155 |
Number of pages | 42 |
Journal | Journal of Economic History |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
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