Recent approaches in agricultural production economics: Where the heck are the prices?

Abstract

• We provide an overview of empirical approaches in production economics that focus on credible identification of a small number of model parameters. • We provide a historical context: where they came from, how they differ, and where we think the methodological landscape is headed. • We focus on ag production and provide specific examples of research in the climate change, agricultural policy, and technology arenas. We provide an overview of increasingly common empirical approaches in production economics that focus on credible identification of a small number of model parameters, the value of which is couched within a practitioner’s perspective on the evolution of empirical methods in this literature dating back to the mid-twentieth century. That is, we provide a historical look at where these approaches came from, how they differ from previous approaches, and where we think the methodological landscape is likely headed. Our particular focus is on the agricultural production literature, and we provide specific examples of research in the climate change, agricultural policy, and technology arenas. We also discuss recent innovations in data and methods that have driven empirical work to date and point to how these methodological advances (and perhaps future advances) can be leveraged to push the agricultural production economics literature forward. We conclude with some general take-away messages and highlight trade-offs researchers often make when choosing an empirical approach.