Risk Aversion, Information and Adoption of HYV Technology in Asian Countries : The Role of Concessionary Credit Revisited

Subsidised credit, a key component of many programs designed to facilitate rapid adoption of new agricultural technologies in developing countries, has been almost unanimously condemned by economists on both efficiency and equity grounds. This paper argues that such analysis have typically underestimated major positive contributions of susidised credit by ignoring links between risk, information and subsidised credit in the context of underdeveloped on non-existent markets, and the positive externalities conferred on poorer farmers and rice consumers by early adopting large farmers.