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Title: Agricultural Diversity, Structural Change and Long-run Development: Evidence from US counties

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2014

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Abstract: This paper examines the role of agricultural diversity in the process of economic development. Evidence from U.S. counties shows that early agricultural diversification affected structural change and long-run economic performance. Using a novel identification strategy that relies on exogenous variation in patterns of agricultural production generated by climatic features, I find sizable effects of agricultural diversification in the mid-19th century on income per capita in recent decades. A positive impact of agricultural diversity can be traced back to the advance of the industrialization process in the course of the Second Industrial Revolution. An assessment of mechanisms suggests that agricultural diversity boosted the relative size and productivity of the manufacturing sector by fostering manufacturing diversification (in terms of sectors and skills), formation of new skills, and technological progress.

Url: http://sites.bu.edu/neudc/files/2014/10/paper_297.pdf

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Authors: Fiszbein, Martin

Publisher: Brown University

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Land Use/Urban Organization, Natural Resource Management, Other

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