In this paper, we present measures of land and labor productivity for a group of ninety-eight developed and developing countries using an entirely new data set with annual observations spanning the past three decades. The substantial cross-country and intertemporal variation in productivity in our sample is linked to both natural and economic factors. We extend previous work by dealing with multiple sources of systematic measurement error in conventional agricultural inputs. The mix of conventional inputs, indicators of quality of agricultural inputs, and the amount of publicly provided infrastructure are all significant in explaining observed cross-sectional differences in productivity patterns. Copyright 1997, Oxford University Press.
Over the past three decades the development of agricultural research staff in sub-Saharan Africa has been impressive. There were significant increases in the number of researchers (a sixfold increase if South Africa is excluded), in Africanization (from about 90 percent expatriates in 1961 to 11 percent in 1991), and in education levels (over 60 percent of national researchers held a postgraduate degree in 1991).Developments in agricultural research expenditures were less positive. After
INVESTMENTS IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH * **
AbslractGrowth in agriculture depends on many things but one of the most important is invcstmcnt in agricultural rcscurch, Decision making in the agricultural research policy arca can only be aidcd hy acccss to bouer information.This article overviews a recent cndeavor to move policy dialogue bcyond mcrcly qualitative impressions towards a proccss that is undcrpinned with ncw and cogcnt data. The data uscd havc becn asscmblcd at ISNAR in a manner dcsigncd to make comparisons both ovcr timc and bciwccn countries more valid than has beon thc case in the pas!. The comparisons thus possible reveal considerable divcrsity both between countrics and bctwccn bread regional aggregations. Also il!uminated hcrc arc issues rclatcd to the comrnodity orientation, capital and labor intensity, and sizc and scopc of particular national programs. 0169-5150/94/$07.00 @ 1994 Elsevier Science BoY. Ali rights rcserved SSDI 01 ()~-5150(~3)E0035-L
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