Changing agricultural comparative advantage

Abstract

97Abbott, PC. and Thompson, R.L., 1987. Changing agricultural comparative advantage. Agric. Econ., 1: 97-112.Special circumstances in the agricultural sector have limited the use of comparative advantage in addressing the planner's dilemma of allocating investment between industry and agriculture and in examining the doctrine of food selfsufficiency. A three-factor model of agricultural trade, extending earlier models, is used to address some of these special circumstances and to formulate a theory of agricultural comparative advantage under changing economic conditions. Emphasis is placed on the short-run fixity of sector-specific capital stocks, the role of qualitative differences in land (natural resource) endowments, and on non-homothetic preferences. In addition to insights on agricultural comparative advantage, implications for project evaluation are considered.

Testing Comparative Advantage in Australian Broadacre Agriculture Under Climate Change: Theoretical and Empirical Models*

“…Within this framework, there are weak Stolper-Samuelson and Rybczynski effects, the chief difference being that there is no such Rybczynski effect for the mobile factor (Feenstra, 2004). Using a specific-factors approach, Abbott and Thompson (1987) construct a model of agricultural comparative advantage in which the short run is characterised by immobile specific factors, such as land, which through investment may become mobile in the long run.…”

Effect of Extensive Educational Resources in Farmer's Conception Change for Rapeseed Cultivation

“…Justification of manpower potentials with relative advantages of arable crops and planting pattern conducted based on variations in climatic conditions of a selected area, are the key points for achieving success of any countries agricultural policies. Concerning to the manpower we must notice to the main effective bbott and Thompson, 1987). Because of this viewpoint has a very dominant effect for success or failure of any agricultural programs (Yazdani, 2007;Tobey andChomo, 1994) Sedighi (2001) after evaluation of professional characteristics of farmers and related variants, showed that factors as banking facilities, and extension and educational activities had a obvious role in generating of positive standpoints for rapeseed farmers in Hamedan Province, Iran.…”

Resource supplies and changing world agricultural comparative advantage

“…For these reasons, Haley and Abbott (l986b) suggest that sector-specific Ricardian models are more appropriate for both applied and theoretical work on agricultural comparative advantage. Several observers have argued that agricultural and manufactured processes are sufficiently different to render the H-O theory inapplicable as a guide to agricultural trade (Bali, 1966;Leontief, 1956;Abbott and Thompson, 1987). Due ta the above mentioned difficulties, few efforts have atternpted to explain agricultural trade patterns on the basis of the H-O theory of comparative advantage, Notable exceptions include Leamer (I984), Haley and Abbott (1986a) and Vollrath and Vo (1988).…”