In this paper, we assess the potential for rehabilitation of comparative analysis under its new guise of benchmarking. After a brief description of comparative analysis, we discuss the deficiencies that surrounded its fall in reputation: neglect of economic principles, limited scope for action,...

The costs and benefits of policies designed to regulate the use of production contracts will depend in part on the impact of these contracts on farm productivity. In this paper we measure the impact of contracting on 1) partial and total factor productivity and 2) the production technology for...

Recent low estimates of total factor productivity change for wool producers in the Australian sheep industry indicate that they are struggling to improve their performance. This evidence is at odds with the views of many technical observers of industry performance, prompting us to re-estimate...

Presented at: NATIONAL AUTONOMUOS UNIVERSITY OF NICARAGUA, LEON INVESTIGATION VICERECTOR, POSTPGRADUATE AND SOCIAL PROJECTION 2th SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ¨THE INVESTIGATION A WAY TO THE KNOWLEGE AND DEVELOPMENT¨ 17 NOVIEMBRE 2009

Presented at: UNIVERSITIES NATIONAL COUNCIL III UNVERSITY SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 41 ANNIVERSARY OF THE CATHOLIC FARMING LIVESTOCK UNIVERSITY OF THE DRY TROPIC ¨UNIVERSITY, SCIENCE AND TECNOLOGY: A STRATEGY FOR CONFRONTING THE NATIONAL GLOBAL CHALLENGE¨ 23 SEPTEMBER 2009

Using panel data, we estimate technology gaps for four distinct sheep-producing regions in Eastern Australia (Northern New South Wales, Central and South-Eastern New South Wales, South-Western New South Wales and South-West Victoria) that reflect spatial environmental and technological...

Estimating how production contracts affect farm productivity is difficult because the decision to use a contract is endogenous to other decisions affecting productivity. This study uses the local availability of production contracts as an instrument for whether a farm uses a contract in order to...

Hog production in 2004 was characterized by wide variation in the types, sizes, and economic performance of operations. Operations specializing in a single production phase generated more than three times the product value, on average, of those using the traditional farrow-to-finish approach....