A COMPARISON OF MULTIFACTOR PRODUCTIVITY CALCULATIONS OF THE US AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Since the late 1970s, there have been fourteen studies that have estim ated multifactor productivity (MFP) growth rates for the U.S. agricult ural sector. The estimates of average annual MFP growth rates have ran ged from 1.15 to 1.94 percent per year for studies using the gross pro ductivity approach. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reaso ns for these different estimates. We consider theoretical and empirica l factors and do not find any single reason that satisfactory explains the variation. The alternative estimates appear to be most sensitive to the coverage of years.