This article compares standard stochastic frontier models for panel data with a number of recently developed models which attempt to control for unobserved heterogeneity in the inefficiency component. Results are used to construct a generalized Malmquist Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index for...

The recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, which decouples farm subsidies from production, is expected to impact on farmers' production decisions. We perform a cross-country farm-level empirical analysis of farmers' production responses to these reforms using a panel dataset for the...

Information failures are a major barrier to formal financial saving in low-income countries. We explore the extent to which social capital in rural Vietnam plays a role in increasing formal savings where knowledge gaps exist. Social capital is defined as information sharing and the elimination...

This paper explores the effect of land titling on agricultural productivity in Vietnam and the productivity effects of single versus joint titling for husband and wife. Using a plot-fixed-effects approach our results show that obtaining a land title is associated with higher yields, for both...

type="main" xml:id="jage12027-abs-0001" <title type="main">Abstract</title> <p>This paper considers the role of financing constraints in agricultural investment since the recent financial crisis. Using Irish micro data over the period 1997–2010, we estimate the Q model of investment and test for financing constraints using...</p>

The decoupling of direct payments from production introduced in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is expected to make production decisions more market-oriented and farmers more productive. However, ex-post analyses of the productivity of farms have yet to uncover any evidence of a...

Firm turnover (i.e., firm entry and exit) is a well-recognized source of sector-level productivity growth. In contrast, the role and importance of firms that switch activities from one sector to another is not well understood. Firm switchers are likely to be unique, differing from both newly...