MALE-FEMALE DIFFERENCES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY - METHODOLOGICALISSUES AND EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE

Most estimates of male-female differences in technical efficiency from production function studies show that male and female farmers are equ ally efficient farm managers, controlling for levers of inputs and hum an capital. There is some evidence, however, of allocative inefficienc y within households. Marginal products of labor depend on the relative scarcities of labor and the gender division of labor in specific farm ing systems. Many of these studies, however, are methodologically flaw ed. Greater attention needs to be given to appropriate estimation meth ods, endogenous input choice, the use of headship as a stratifying var iable, and the implications of intrahousehold resource allocation. Cop yright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd