Multilevel modeling on farmland distribution in Japan

Each region has developed its own land-use system and factors prescribing l and use are more or less different in every region. Previous research sugge sts that an ordinary regression model is an inadequate tool to identify the factors if the study area includes various regions. To elucidate the facto rs influencing farmland distribution in Japan, the author applied a multile vel model. It has been invented for analyzing hierarchically structured dat a, which consist of lower-level samples nested within higher level(s). It e nables us to estimate not only the influences of each factor at lower level s but also how much they vary at higher levels. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.