MEASURING PRODUCTIVITY CHANGE UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ASSISTANCE: THE AUSTRALIAN DAIRY INDUSTRY

The effects of different levels of protection on productivity measures are frequently ignored in economic analysis. In this paper. a procedure is developed to net out the effects of non-marginal cost pricing on the traditional Tornqvist productivity measure. Total factor productivity in the dairy industry is estimated to have grown at a 1.5 per cent annual rate over the period 1967-68 to 1982-83. A state and regional analysis of the dairy industry showed that the Victorian industry had outperformed the New South Wales industry, a factor that was attributed to major policy differences between the two states.