Short-Run Returns to Scale, Farm-Size, and Economic Efficiency.

This paper analyzes the effects of returns to scale, farm-size, technical, allocative, and scale inefficiencies on the profitability of Utah dairy farms. It derives the conditions necessary to compare the profitability of farms within and between different size classifications as small, medium, and large. Some comparative static results regarding increases in input prices and a decrease or withdrawal of price support on profitability of small, medium, and large farms are presented. Copyright 1993 by MIT Press.