Measurement of the economic efficiency of tenurial patterns in Brazil

The purpose of this paper is to test econometrically the efficiency of diff erent tenurial patterns in Brazil. We use a measure of farm economic effici ency derived from a stochastic profit function in which the efficiency vari able depends on the tenurial contract and on the investment in conservation and land improvement. The results show that sharecropping is an inefficien t contract the existence of which may be explained by a type of management that is more concerned with conservation and enhancing of the farming capit al than within the framework of a fixed-rent contract. The results also all ow us to compare the farms of different regions in Brazil in terms of their efficiency level and the long-term viability of their systems of productio n. The study bears on a sample of panel data aggregated at the level of Bra zilian states.