How does trade impact agricultural productivity?

Pandit, Akshay

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108640 Copy

Description

Title

How does trade impact agricultural productivity?

Author(s)

Pandit, Akshay

Issue Date

2020-07-23

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Konar, Megan

Department of Study

Civil & Environmental Eng

Discipline

Civil Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Trade
• Yield
• Trade Openness
• Agricultural variables

Abstract

"Agricultural production has faced increased demands over the last half century from an expanding economy and population. We live in a globalized world, in which agriculture is deeply intertwined in international markets and trade. In this paper, we address the overarching research question: ""What is the impact of trade on agricultural productivity?''. To this end, we present a comprehensive statistical and econometric analysis on the relationship between international trade and agricultural production. We use national-scale data on crop yield, area harvested, production, and trade for the last half century (1961-2016) from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. We introduce novel weighting and decomposition analyses to explore the relationship between trade and crop productivity. To determine the causal impact of trade on agriculture we implement instrumental variable (IV) econometric methods. We find that trade has led to an increase in global agricultural productivity over time (e.g. through increased productivity, the intensive margin). Global productivity gains have accrued primarily through the participation of more countries in global trade (e.g. expanding the area of contribution, the extensive margin). Additionally, we find that trade has enabled global crop consumption to increase. These findings indicate that trade openness leads to greater productivity in agriculture in general. This work highlights that trade can help to achieve productivity gains in agriculture and potentially help the world to address remaining yield gaps."

Graduation Semester

2020-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108640

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Akshay Pandit

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