Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T22:11:14.457Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Causes of Low Returns to Farm Labor in the U.S.: An Analysis of Factor Market Interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Bert Mason
Bert Mason*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University
Get access

Abstract

Despite massive off-farm migration and relatively prosperous agricultural years, estimates of returns to factors of production indicate that labor earnings in agriculture remain low. This is primarily caused by farm factor market characteristics and the resulting tendency of any increase in farm income to be capitalized into land values.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , April 1978 , pp. 7 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Helpful comments by Varden Fuller, Gillian Hart and three anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

References

Beale, Calvin, 1976. “A Younger Breed of Farmers.” The Farm Index, No. 7, USDA, July 1976.Google Scholar
Bratton, C. A. Dairy Farm Management Business Summary, New York 1975. Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell Univ. A. E. Res. 76–7, 1976.Google Scholar
Chryst, Walter E. “Land Values and Agricultural Income: A Paradox?” Journal of Farm Economics 47(1965): 1265–1273.Google Scholar
Council of Economic Advisers. 1975. Economic Report of the President, (Feb.).Google Scholar
Fuller, Varden and Mason, Bert, “Farm Labor.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 429(1977): 63–80.Google Scholar
Fuller, Varden and Van Vuuren, Willem. “Farm Labor and Labor Markets.” In Size, Structure and Future of Farms. ed. Heady, Earl O. and Ball, Gordon. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Univ. Press. 1972.Google Scholar
Ball, Am.Google Scholar
Gaffney, Mason. “The Benefits of Farm Programs: Incidence, Shifting and Dissipation.” Journal of Farm Economics 47(1965): 1252–1263.Google Scholar
Heady, Earl O. “Basic Economic and Welfare Aspects of Farm Technological Advance.” Journal of Farm Economics, 31(1949): 293–316.Google Scholar
Heady, Earl O. Agricultural Policy Under Agricultural Development. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Univ. Press. 1962.Google Scholar
Hottel, J. Bruce and Reinsel, Robert D. Returns to Equity Capital by Economic Class of Farm, USDA, ERS, Agricultural Economics Report No. 347, Aug. 1976.Google Scholar
Huffman, Wallace E. “The Productive Value of Human Time in U.S. Agriculture.” American Journal of Agricultural Econmics, 58(1976): 672–683.Google Scholar
Raup, Philip. “Discussion: Land Values and Agricultural Income: A Paradox?” Journal of Farm Economics, 47(1965): 1273–1277.Google Scholar
Robinson, K. L. “Unstable Farm Prices: Economic Consequences and Policy Options.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 57(1975): 769–777.Google Scholar
Rosine, John and Helmberger, Peter. “A Neoclassical Analysis of the U.S. Farm Sector, 1948–1970.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 56(1974): 717–729.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1969. Census of Agriculture.Google Scholar
USDA. Agricultural Statistics. 1967–76.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Changes in Farm Production and Efficiency, Statistical Bulletin No. 561, Sept. 1976.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Current Population Reports: Farm Population, Series P-27, No. 47, Sept. 1976.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Farm Costs and Returns, Agricultural Informati on Bulletin No. 230, 1968.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Farm Income Statistics, Statistical Bulletin No. 557, July 1976.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Farm Population Estimates for 1975, Agricultural Economics Report No. 352, 1975.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. Farm Real Estate Market Developments, CD-80, Jan. 1977.Google Scholar
USDA, ERS. The Hired Farm Working Force of 1975, Agricultural Economics Report No. 355, 1975.Google Scholar