Technology Structure of the Rice Sector of Japanese Agriculture: (I) A Translog Variable Cost (VC) Function Approach

Abstract

The major objective of this chapter is to execute a comprehensive quantitative investigation on the technology structure of rice production which has still been a most important agricultural product in Japan in many senses. To pursue this objective, a so-called flexible functional model of the cost function will be developed and estimated for the second half of the 20th century, 1956–97, using a pooled cross section of time series data for Tohoku as a representative rice producing region in Japan.