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The Diffusion of Tractor Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2006

DINAH DUFFY MARTINI  and
EUGENE SILBERBERG
DINAH DUFFY MARTINI
Affiliation:
Completed her Ph.D. at the University of Washington, Seattle.
EUGENE SILBERBERG
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Economics, Box 353330, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3330.
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Abstract

A substantial literature exists claiming the adoption of tractors was inefficiently slow. We develop a linear programming model of farms that specifically incorporates the opportunity cost of the farmer's time and apply it to farms in Iowa during the interwar period. We develop technological coefficients derived at the task level, based on the data and agricultural reports from that period. By valuing the time saved by tractors, we demonstrate that the seemingly slow rate of tractor adoption was in fact wealth maximizing. Tractors were widely adopted only after the improvement in implements that came late in this period.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 354 - 389
Copyright
© 2006 The Economic History Association

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