摘要：The introduction of new high-yielding varieties of cereals in the 1960s, known asthe green revolution, dramatically changed the food supply in Asia, as well as inother countries. In the present paper we examine, over an extended period, thegrowth consequences for agriculture in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.Despite geographical proximity, similar climate and other shared characteristics,gains in productivity and income differed significantly among the countries. Wequantify these differences and examine their determinants. We find that the newtechnology changed the returns to fertilisers, irrigated land and capital, all of whichproved scarce to varying degrees. Complementing technology-related changes infactor use were investments, public and private, driven in part by policy. We findthat factor accumulation played an important role in output growth and that accumu-lations from policy driven investments in human capital and public infrastructurewere important sources of productivity gains. We conclude that policies that easeconstraints on factor markets and promote public investment in people and infra-structure provide the best opportunities for agricultural growth.
