A Decomposed Negative Binomial Model of Structural Change: A Theoretical and Empirical Application to U.S. Agriculture

"We developed a single-equation decomposed negative binomial regression model (NBRM) of the U.S. farm sector to simultaneously evaluate structural changes in the U.S. agricultural sector and the strength of several economic forces that influenced the changes in farm structure during the" 1960-96 "period. We found all these forces reinforced economic incentives to increase the size and decrease the number of small farms. Only agricultural programs and machinery prices countered these forces." Copyright 2005 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.