Fact or artefact : the impact of measurement errors on the farm size - productivity relationship

By C. Carletto, S. Savastano, A. Zezza. 2011

368 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper revisits the role of land measurement error in the inverse farm size and productivity relationship. By making use of data from a nationally representative household survey from Uganda, in which self-reported land size information is complemented by plot measurements collected using Global Position System devices, the authors reject the hypothesis that the inverse relationship may just be a statistical artifact linked to problems with land measurement error. In particular, the paper explores: (i) the determinants of the bias in land measurement, (ii) how this bias varies systematically with plot size and landholding, and (iii) the extent to which land measurement error affects the relative advantage of smallholders implied by the inverse relationship. The findings indicate that using an improved measure of land size strengthens the evidence in support of the existence of the inverse relationship.

Subfields: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9bd9ba677bd17ee1f275e767303d46c40d541363

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In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

In Soil Science

Citations in the corpus

Should African Rural Development Strategies Depend on Smallholder Farms? An Exploration of the Inverse-Productivity Hypothesis (2012, result): “Similarly, a recent study that incorporates self-reported and GPS land measurements in Uganda concludes that measurement errors work against rather than in favor of the inverse yield hypothesis (Carletto et al., 2011).”
From guesstimates to GPStimates : land area measurement and implications for agricultural analysis (2013, positive): “Disaggregating the data by size—constructed based on levels of GPS measurements— reveals systematic differences in the discrepancy between the two measures, matching the patterns observed by Carletto et al. (2013) and DeGroote and Traoré, (2005).”
Are There Too Many Farms in the World? Labor Market Transaction Costs, Machine Capacities, and Optimal Farm Size (2017, background): “…not due to a correlation of land quality and farm size (e.g., Carter 1984; Bhalla and Roy 1988; Benjamin 1995; Bar-rett, Bellemare, and Hou 2010) and/or measurement error that is correlated with scale (e.g., Larson et al. 2013; Carletto, Savastano, and Zezza 2013; Ali and Deininger 2014).”
Measurement Error Mechanisms Matter: Agricultural Intensification with Farmer Misperceptions and Misreporting (2019, positive): “Several previous studies have found measurement error in self-reported plot size is correlated with true plot area (Carletto et al. 2013; Carletto et al. 2015; Gourlay et al. 2017; Bevis and Barrett, 2019; Abay et al., 2019).”
The political economy of food systems reform (2017, background): “…measurement (Lamb, 2003), researchers from the World Bank have more recently concluded that ‘the empirical validity of the [inverse relationship] hypothesis is strengthened, not weakened, by the availability of better measures of land size collected using GPS devices’ (Carletto et al., 2013: 258).”
Explaining Gender Differentials in Agricultural Production in Nigeria (2013, background): “Although this is the general perception, the reality is more nuanced with some studies finding females to have lower average productivity than males while others find no significant differences between the two groups (see Croppenstedt et al., 2013).”
To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Dynamics in Ethiopia (2017, positive): “Recent literature shows that the size of smaller farmed plots tends to be over estimated while the size of larger farmed plots tends to be underestimated (Carletto, Savastano, & Zezza, 2013, 2015).”
Small farms and development in sub-Saharan Africa: Farming for food, for income or for lack of better options? (2021, background): “Farmer-reporting of farm sizes may introduce systematic bias, but given that households with smaller farm sizes tend to overestimate their holdings, and those with larger farms tend to underestimate their holdings (Carletto et al., 2013), such errors would only tend to support the general conclusion”
The State of Family Farms in the World (2016, background): “See for example Barrett et al. (2010), Carletto, Savastano, and Zezza (2013), Berry and Cline (1979) for Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Malaysia; Cornia (1985) for 15 different countries; Heltberg (1998) for Pakistan, Khusro (1973), Rudra and Bandopadhyaya (1973), Bhalla…”