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Welfare Decomposition in the Context of the Life Cycle of Farm Operators: What Does a National Survey Reveal?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Hisham S. El-Osta  and
Mitchell J. Morehart
Hisham S. El-Osta
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C.
Mitchell J. Morehart
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C.
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Abstract

This paper examines the role of the life cycle in impacting the distribution of a combined income and wealth measure using data from the 2001 and 2006 Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Such an assessment is made using both graphical representation of the distribution of the well-being measure along with utilization of the social welfare decomposition procedure. Results show a mild yet statistically insignificant improvement in the distribution of the economic measure over the five-year period. Contribution to social welfare is found highest among the cohort where the age of the head of household is between 45 and 54 years. Targeted programs are found to enhance social welfare if they are aimed towards cohorts where the age of the head of household is younger than 35 years or where the age of the head of household is in the 35-to-44 age group, depending on whether the analysis is based on a perfarm household or on a per-capita basis.

Keywords

ARMSeconomic well-beingGini coefficientLorenz curvewelfare decomposition
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , October 2009 , pp. 125 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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