Investment in research and agricultural productivity: a review of the recent literature

Abstract

Productivity is a central issue in economics because it is one of the main determinants of economic well-being. Particularly in agriculture, improvements in productivity are essential to alleviate the pressure on more and more scarce natural resources. For these reasons, trends in national and global agricultural productivity should to be monitored and evaluated. One of the main policy instruments to increase agricultural productivity is the investment in research and development. This literature review presents some stylized facts pointed out by recent studies that investigate the impacts of research investments on agricultural productivity worldwide. In addition to discuss their motivations, theoretical basis, applied methodologies and data, it also aimed to provide some numbers on the research impact on agricultural productivity that can be used in future studies.