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The Technical Efficiency of Illinois Grain Farms: An Application of a Ray-Homothetic Production Function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Hassan Y. Aly ,
Krishna Belbase ,
Richard Grabowski  and
Steven Kraft
Hassan Y. Aly
Affiliation:
Alexandria University, Egypt
Krishna Belbase
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University
Richard Grabowski
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Southern Illinois University
Steven Kraft
Affiliation:
Department of Agribusiness Economics, Southern Illinois University
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to measure the extent of technical inefficiency among a sample of Illinois grain farms using the corrected ordinary least squares method. Instead of assuming a Cobb-Douglas production function, a linear form of the ray-homothetic is used. The results show a significant amount of technical inefficiency among all the farms in the sample, but with large farms being less technically inefficient than small farms.

Keywords

technical efficiencyIllinois grain farmsray-homothetic
Type
Submitted Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , July 1987 , pp. 69 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1987

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