摘要：This paper examines state agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) data, 1950-1982,for evidence of convergence, i.e., TFP growth rates of the future are inversely related to the TFPlevel at the starting data. After finding evidence of convergence, the paper examines thecontributions of public and private R&D to convergence and presents implications for a moreefficient organization of public agricultural research. For example, we find that increasing astates own investment in public agricultural research reduces the rate of TFP convergence butlarger public investments in surrounding areas that potentially spillin increase the rate ofconvergence. Also, the results imply that the average rate of convergence in our best fittingmodel is about 10 percent per year. The finding of strong positive interstate spillover effects ofpublic agricultural research suggests incentives should be considered for stronger cooperationacross states on agricultural research funding and new political jurisdictions for financing publicagricultural research.
关键词：convergence; total factor productivity; states; spillins; growth; public research; ;agriculture
