Efficiency and Policy Analysis in Agriculture:Methods and Applications

Abilities in econometrics, economics, statistical data analysis and computer literacy is required for developing applied policy analysis and using obtained results for making informed policy decisions. Further, the need for a good understanding of issues, constraints and challenges facing policy makers especially with respect to increasing productivity, ensuring food security and reducing poverty cannot be overstressed. This book provides details of different and up-to-date methods of measuring technical, allocative and economic efficiency. This will serve as an important tool for graduate students and researchers who are interested in efficiency and policy analysis. This book is expected to have a wide readership as the methods used can be applied for analysing the performance of any economic sector: agricultural, industrial, banking, educational, health amongst other sectors. The book also aims at identifying the policy options that matter for improving farm efficiency and productivity. To ensure that policy conclusions are not biased, the book employs an array of econometric and statistical techniques in efficiency and policy analysis.