Publication Date:
1994-02-01
Description:
This research measures technical efficiency among methods of pulpwood harvesting in the southern United States in 1979 and 1987. An econometric frontier production function is modeled using analysis of covariance methods, which results in consistent estimates of method effects. Employed efficiency measures isolate economies of scale from what can be termed pure technical efficiency. Harvesting methods utilizing either extremely low or high capitalization levels were the most technically efficient. Longwood grapple skidder systems were the most efficient, and intermediate systems least efficient. This suggests a noncontinuous improvement in harvesting technology that has investment implications for small producers interested in upgrading low capitalization systems. Scale economies represented only a small percentage of the total efficiency effect, the rest being attributed to efficiency of method. Thus, too much emphasis may be placed on the impacts of scale economies when analyzing structural change in the industry. Efficiency measures correlate well with the observed evolution of the industry over the period and conform with the predictions of economic theory.
Print ISSN:
0045-5067
Electronic ISSN:
1208-6037
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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