Are There Too Many Farms in the World? Labor-Market Transaction Costs, Machine Capacities and Optimal Farm Size
![Foster lecture Foster lecture](https://kellogg.nd.edu/sites/default/files/styles/people_photo/public/events/foster-lecture.jpg?itok=SdUf4WJo)
Note date/time change due to expected weather conditions.
Andrew Foster
Director, Social Science Research Institute, Brown University
Professor of Economics, Brown University
A U-shaped relationship between farm productivity and farm scale – the initial fall in productivity as farm size increases from its lowest levels and the continuous upward trajectory as scale increases after a threshold – is observed across the world and in low-income countries. In this talk based on a paper co-authored with Mark R. Rosenzweig, Andrew Foster addresses topics including the relationship between labor-market transaction costs and farm size and efficiency. Foster and Rosenzweig used data from the India ICRISAT VLS panel survey in their research.