This study investigates worker shares of the returns to scale and returns to technology adoption on U.S. hog farms. The wage analysis controls for a matching process by which workers are linked to farms of different sizes and technology uses. Using four surveys of employees on hog farms...

The hypothetical distribution of multiple technology adoptions under the assumption that technologies are mutually independent is compared against the actual observed distribution of technology adoptions on hog farms. Combinations of technologies that occur with greater frequency than would...

A long-standing puzzle in labor economics has been the positive relationship between wages and firm size. Even after controlling for worker's observed characteristics such as education, work experience, gender, and geographic location, a significant firm size wage effect averaging 15 percent...

We propose a strategy to identify the complementarity or substitutability among technology bundles. Differences between the observed distribution of technology choices can be subjected to statistical tests. Combinations of technologies that occur with greater frequency than would occur under...

Economists have long puzzled over the fact that large firms pay higher wages than small firms, even after controlling for worker’s observed productive characteristics. One possible explanation has been that firm size is correlated with unobserved productive attributes which confound firm...

We propose a strategy to identify the complementarity or substitutability among technology bundles. Under the assumption that alternative technologies are independent, we develop a hypothetical distribution of multiple technology adoptions. Differences between the observed distribution of...

Data on attendees at the World Pork Expo from 1991–95 are used to evaluate the impact of farming generally, and hog farming and confinement operations more specifically, on the measured health outcomes of participants. Hog farming is found to increase risk of reduced hand strength and...

Consolidation in the U.S. pork industry continues to reduce the number of operations, while increasing the demand for hired labor. This paper explores how wages have evolved over time by decomposing the increase in wages into a change in the level of wages, human capital, and returns to human...