Measuring Public Agricultural Research Capitaland Its Contribution to State AgriculturalProductivity

A methodology for measuring public agricultural research capital is developed anddescribed for the first time, new public agricultural research capital measures for each of the 48contiguous US states, 1970-1999, are presented, and a new econometric analysis of the contributionof public agricultural research capital to state agricultural productivity is reported. Publicagricultural research capital across the states is shown to have five different growth patterns, onlyone of which is at a constant rate. New TFP results show that public agricultural research capitalcontributes significantly to agricultural productivity and is larger than previous estimates. Intrastateand spillin public agricultural research capital are shown to be complementary, but privateagricultural research capital and public extension are substitutes. The marginal social rate of returnto public agricultural, including significant interstate spillovers, is large which has science policyimplications.[...]