Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T20:54:19.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Dynamics of Wealth Concentration Among Farm Operator Households

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Hisham S. El-Osta  and
Mitchell J. Morehart
Hisham S. El-Osta
Affiliation:
Resource Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Mitchell J. Morehart
Affiliation:
Resource Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The method of computing wealth shares accruing to lowest and highest quintiles, along with the concepts of the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient, are used in conjunction with data from the 1996 and 1999 Agricultural Resource Management Study (ARMS) survey to measure the distribution of wealth among U.S. farm operator households. Findings show that the distribution of wealth in 1996 was slightly more concentrated than in 1999, with the farm wealth component contributing significantly more toward measured concentration in both years than the nonfarm wealth component. The robustness of the findings under varied value judgments concerning society's level of aversion to wealth concentration is also examined.

Keywords

Agricultural Resource Management Studydistribution of farm wealthextended Gini coefficientLorenz curvesocial welfare function
Type
Articles
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , April 2002 , pp. 84 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahearn, M. C., and El-Osta, H. S. (1991, June). “Farm Wealth: Its Distribution and Comparison to the Wealth of U.S. Households.” In Agricultural Income and Finance: Situation and Outlook Report (pp. 21–23). Pub. No. AFO-41, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ahearn, M. C., Perry, J. S., and El-Osta, H. (1993, January). “The Economic Well-Being of Farm Operator Households, 1988–90.” Pub. No. AER-666, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A. B. (1983). The Economics of Inequality. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Bierlen, R., Parsch, L. D., Dixon, B. L., and Ahrendsen, B. L. (2000). “The 1996 FAIR Act: Measuring the Impacts on Land Leasing.” Review of Agricultural Economics 22(2), 336–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyne, D. H. (1964). Changes in the Real Wealth Position of Farm Operators, 1940–1960. Agricultural Experiment Station, Michigan State University, East Lansing.Google Scholar
Dubman, R. W. (2000, April). “Variance Estimation with the USDA's Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and Agricultural Resource Management Study Surveys.” Pub. No. AGES 00–01, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Hepp, R. E. (1996, October). “Comparison of Michigan Farmland Returns to Nonfarm Investments.” Staff Paper No. 96–93, Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing.Google Scholar
Hill, B. (1989). Farm Incomes, Wealth, and Agricultural Policy. Brookfield, VT: Gower Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Hill, B. (1996). Farm Incomes, Wealth, and Agricultural Policy. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Johansson, P.-O. (1991). An Introduction to Modern Welfare Economics. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kilcullen, R.J. (1996). “John Rawls: Liberty.” Online. Available at http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/y64115.html. [Accessed March 28, 2000.]Google Scholar
Lerman, R. J., and Yitzhaki, S. (1985, February). “Income Inequality Effects by Income Source: A New Approach and Applications to the U.S.” Review of Economics and Statistics 67, 151–156.Google Scholar
Lerman, R. J., and Yitzhaki, S. (1989, September). “Improving the Accuracy of Estimates of Gini Coefficients.” Journal of Econometrics 42, 43–47.Google Scholar
Morehart, M., Ryan, J., and Green, R. (2001, February 22). “Farm Income and Finance: The Importance of Government Payments” Paper presented at Agricultural Outlook Forum-2000, Arlington, VA.Google Scholar
Pyatt, G., Chen, C., and Fei, J. (1980). “The Distribution of Income by Factor Components.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 95, 451–473.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. A. (1972). A Theory of Justice. London: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Schertz, L., and Johnston, W. (1997, August). “Farm Act ’96: Managing Farm Resources in a New Policy Environment.” In Agricultural Outlook(pp. 18–21). USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Schertz, L., and Johnston, W. (1998, First Quarter). “Landowners: They Get the 1996 Farm Act Benefits” Choices, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar
Silberberg, E. (1978). The Structure of Economics: A Mathematical Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.Google Scholar
Skees, J. R., Reed, M. R., and Pederson, G. D. (1985, January). “Some Distribution Effects of Changing Price Levels on Farm-Level Wealth.” North Central Journal of Agricultural Economics 7, 94–104.Google Scholar
Stark, O., Taylor, J. E., and Yitzhaki, S. (1988, May). “Migration, Remittances, and Inequality— A Sensitivity Analysis Using the Extended Gini Index.” Journal of Development Economics 28, 309–322.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (1996, 1999). “Agricultural Resource Management Study” (ARMS). Annual farm survey, jointly conducted by Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, Washington, DC. Online. Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ARMS/index.htm.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (1999). Agricultural Land Values. Pub. No. Sp Sy 3(99), USDA/National Agricultural Statistics Service and Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2000a). “Urbanization Affects a Large Share of Farmland.” Rural Conditions and Trends, Vol. 10, pp. 57–63. USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2000b). “Appendix: Data Sources and Definitions.” Rural Conditions and Trends, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 87–93. USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2001, September). “Moderate Increases in Farmland Values Help Farm Lenders and Farmers Holding Real Estate-Backed Farm Loans.” In Agricultural Income and Finance: Situation and Outlook Report (p. 30). Pub. No. AIS-76, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Weldon, R. N., Moss, C. B., and Erickson, K. (1993). “The Distribution of Farm Wealth in the United States.” Agricultural Finance Review 53, 100–109.Google Scholar
Wunderlich, G. (1958). “Concentration of Land Ownership.” Journal of Farm Economics 40, 1887–1893.Google Scholar
Wunderlich, G. (1984). “Fairness in Landownership.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 66, 803–806.Google Scholar
Yen, D. H. (1999). “Fairness.” Online. Available at http://www.noogenesis.com/malama/fairness.html. [Accessed March 2000.]Google Scholar
Yitzhaki, S. (1983, October). “On an Extension of the Gini Inequality Index.” International Economic Review 24, 617–628.Google Scholar