Heterogeneity in Agricultural Factor Productivity Across and Within Farm Size Groups in Brazil

Resumo

A key issue in evaluating agricultural factor productivity in Brazil is the existing wide variation in farm sizes. In this study, we follow a quantile regression approach and use bootstrapping techniques to estimate a flexible production function to show that factor productivity does vary across and within land size groups. This happens not only because farms of different sizes use different input proportions but rather due to the existence of inter and intragroup farm-specific effects. Our results suggest that usual average measures of factor productivity of previous studies may then be poorly describing the Brazilian agriculture, likely leading to confounding conclusions.