The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of factor substitutions in postwar Japanese agriculture by shedding special light on biased technological change. Such biased technological change is first measured, then associated with the movements of factor prices, and then tested...

Linear programming has long been used as a tool in agricultural planning. This paper presents and discusses a technique that can be used in conjunction with linear programming to evaluate 'nearly optimal' solutions. This technique is referred to as Nearly Optimal Linear Programming or Modelling...

This paper surveys the literature on agricultural supply response to prices in developing countries. Empirical estimates of elasticities depend both on the methodology adopted and on countryspecific factors relating to technology, economic structure and macro constraints. The paper seeks to...

It is often argued that public support of agricultural research is inadequate. However, the empirical papers that support this hypothesis rarely reflect formal behavioral theory capable of explaining this phenomenon. This paper presents a theory that explains underfunding, namely, that funding...

This paper has two main purposes: ( 1 ) to develop a method for measuring the extent and bias of technical change which involves the use of non-parametric production frontiers and does not require information on prices or factor shares; (2) to apply this method to individual farm data drawn from...

The objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that farmer perceptions of technology- specific characteristics significantly condition technology adoption decisions. Earlier adoption studies have not considered this in the analysis of the determinants of adoption decisions. The omission...

Economists investigating consumer demand have accumulated considerable evidence showing that consumers generally have subjective preferences for characteristics of products and that their demand for products is significantly affected by their perceptions of the product's attributes. However, the...

Rapid institutional innovation in the 1980's has led to problems that exceed the scope of research normally assumed by individual researchers. During such periods of rapid change, subject-matter research may be particularly useful. This paper reviews research on the Federal Agricultural Mortgage...

Small-scale farmers are known to produce the greater proportion of food consumed in the Third World, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The various national and international agricultural research centres located in these parts of the world have developed agricultural packages which have been...