Levels of Farm Sector Productivity: An International Comparison.

This articlefocuses on the relative levels of farm sector productivity forthe United States and nine European countries for the period1973 to 1993. At the beginning of the period, Belgium had thehighest level of productivity relative to the United States at1.689. Ireland had the lowest relative productivity at 0.759.By 1993, the range of levels of productivity had narrowed significantly,from 0.709 for Ireland to 1.392 forthe Netherlands. Further evidence of convergence can be seenin the coefficient of variation, which fell steadily from 0.261in 1973 to 0.227 in 1993. Results based on regressionanalysis show a highly significant inverse relation between therate of productivity convergence and the initial level of productivity,consistent with the "catch-up"' hypothesis. The results generallysupport the existence of a positive interaction between capitalaccumulation and productivity growth, suggesting embodiment.