Production Structure and Productivity of Japanese Agriculture : Volume 2: Impacts of Policy Measures

The Japanese economy experienced rapid development during the mid-1950s through to the early ₆1970s, with a compound annual average growth rate of higher than ten per cent. Although the labor productivity of the agricultural sector increased fairly sharply, the non-agricultural sectors enjoyed much higher growth rates of labor productivity during the same period of time. This resulted in big income gaps between the agricultural and non-agricultural households. To reduce such income gaps between the two sectors, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) enacted the Agricultural Basic Act in 1961 and started enforcing various policies for agriculture. These representative policy measures have been the output price-supports, in particular rice, the output-mix change, the set-asides, the input subsidies, and the research and extension (R & E) programs. In Volume 2 the (crops-livestock) multiple-product translog variable profit function is used to quantitatively investigate the impacts of the output price-supports, the set-asides, the input subsidies, and the R & E programs on the important economic indicators from 1965₆97. The most important finding based on such quantitative analyses is that the agricultural policy measures introduced by the MAFF played a vital role in restricting land transfers from small- to large-scale farms for more efficient and productive farming on larger-scale farms contrary to expectations The Japanese economy experienced rapid development during the mid-1950s through to the early 61970s, with a compound annual average growth rate of higher than ten per cent. Although the labor productivity of the agricultural sector increased fairly sharply, the non-agricultural sectors enjoyed much higher growth rates of labor productivity during the same period of time. This resulted in big income gaps between the agricultural and non-agricultural households. To reduce such income gaps between the two sectors, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) enacted the Agricultural Basic Act in 1961 and started enforcing various policies for agriculture. These representative policy measures have been the output price-supports, in particular rice, the output-mix change, the set-asides, the input subsidies, and the research and extension (R & E) programs. In Volume 2 the (crops-livestock) multiple-product translog variable profit function is used to quantitatively investigate the impacts of the output price-supports, the set-asides, the input subsidies, and the R & E programs on the important economic indicators from 1965697. The most important finding based on such quantitative analyses is that the agricultural policy measures introduced by the MAFF played a vital role in restricting land transfers from small- to large-scale farms for more efficient and productive farming on larger-scale farms contrary to expectations Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Impacts of Output Price-Support Programs on Postwar Japanese Agriculture 1965–97: A Variable Profit Function Approach....Pages 3-58 The Set-Aside Programs and Land Movements: A VP Function Approach....Pages 59-76 Impacts of R&E Programs on Structural Change....Pages 77-95 The Impacts of Input Subsidies on Structural Change....Pages 96-124 Summary and Conclusion....Pages 125-130 Back Matter....Pages 131-155 Analyzes quantitatively in a comprehensive, consistent, and integrated manner the production structure and productivity of postwar Japanese agriculture for the latter half of the 20th century, more specifically, 1957-97.