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Public Inputs And Dynamic Producer Behavior: Endogenous Growth In U.S. Agriculture, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Alejandro Onofri

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper is an attempt to understand the impact of public R&D and public infrastructure on the performance of the U.S. agricultural sector during the last part of the twentieth century. A neoclassical Solow growth model is not sufficient for this understanding given the sustained growth performance of the sector. We base our analysis on a well known endogenous growth model, the 'AK model' where nonconvexities are introduced through non-rival inputs. Based on these models and within the dynamic models that rationalize private and public decision making, we have identified three testable hypotheses regarding the aggregate agricultural production technology. They …