Increasing Returns and Intensification: A Reprise on Ester Boserup's Model of Agricultural Growth

The dynamics of Ester Boserup's model of intensification of ``primitive'' (non-chemical, non-mechanized) agriculture have been worked out in three papers by Darity, Pryor and Maurer, and Salehi-Isfahani under conditions where techniques generating higher levels of food production require longer hours of work. But Boserup's theory suggests that continued intensification can lead to productivity increases in food production. Here the long run implications for agricultural productivity are explored when increasing returns evolve from Boserup's intensification process. Variations in the dynamics of a Boserupian economy are considered under different patterns of response to falling incomes and changing work requirements. Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1997.

Duke Scholars

Author William A. Darity Jr. Sanford School of Public Policy