Informatics Publishing Limited

Subrata Kundu ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Economics, Vivekananda Satavarshiki Mahavidyalaya, Manikpara, Paschim Medinipur- 721513, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

The debate on farm-size productivity relationship continues to attract the scholars even today. This study wishes to carry on the arguments advanced in this debate to the pre-liberalisation period on a set of farmers in an underdeveloped region. The region is known to have successful tradition of land reforms and opening up avenues of rural governance and decentralisation. Yet liberalisation policies that are concomitant on the broader aspect of globalisation have led to substantial changes in the pattern of resources utilisation by the different types of farmers. Big farmers gained substantially in the reform process while the poor lost their ground. Without some support in the public policy they may not be able to subsist in an increasingly liberalised economy.

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Atanu Sengupta ¹, Subrata Kundu ²

Affiliations
1 Deparment of Economics, University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, IN
2 Department of Economics with Rural Development, Vidyasagar University, Midnapur, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

Productivity growth is essential for economic enhancement of any country. However, it is empirically quite perplexing to estimate it. The standard practice is to estimate productivity changes by incorporating a time Variable within the production function (Baltagi and Griffin, 1988; Kumbhalwr and Hesmati. 1996; Stevenson, 1980 among others). This provided a measure of overall technical change often coined as Total Factor Productivity (TFP). However, the problem with TFP is its inability to decompose itself into various factors specific effects. The alternative is to visualize technical change within a Factor Augmenting (FA) approach (Beckmann and Sato 1969. Sato and Beckmann 1969, Kumbhakar 2002, 2004). This approach enables us to disentangle different factor contributions to overall technical change. Application of this methodology to the Indian state of West Bengal reveals a lopsided technical change with sufficient amount of surplus labour and inefficient capital use. Serious policy action is necessary to remedy this situation. We also compare the results with the parametric frontier methodology. The results are broadly the same.

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