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Wiley InterScience | |||||||||||||||||||
  Agricultural EconomicsVolume 39 Issue 1, Pages 1 - 15 Published Online: 28 Jun 2008 © 2010 International Association of Agricultural Economists Published on behalf of the International Association of Agricultural Economists
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 241K) | Supporting Information | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  Isolation and agricultural productivity Data Appendix Available Online A data appendix to replicate main results is available as part of the online article from: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com (this link will take you to the article abstract). Please note: Blackwell Publishing is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supplementary materials supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing material) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. Copyright ©2008 International Association of Agricultural Economists KEYWORDS O13 • Q12 • R32 KEYWORDS Transport costs • Transaction costs • Regional development ABSTRACT
This article examines the mechanisms that transmit isolation into productivity. In particular, we study the effect of isolation and transport infrastructure on welfare and agricultural productivity in the case of Madagascar. Madagascar is a good case study given the bad shape of its infrastructure and therefore the significant variation in isolation. Based on comprehensive household survey data combined with a census of communes, we discover a strong poverty–isolation relationship. Further we find the inverse relationship between agricultural productivity and isolation to be surprisingly strong. We isolate the following reasons why productivity might decline with isolation: (i) transportation-induced transaction costs, (ii) the inverse relationship between plot size and productivity, (iii) increasing price variability and extensification onto less fertile land, and (iv) insecurity. Received 8 August 2007; received in revised form 18 December 2007; accepted 21 January 2008 | 
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