Technological progress and price variations, and their effect on farm incomes in Belgium, 1954 to 1972

Farm incomes fluctuate considerably from year to year, partly because of variations in the prices of inputs and outputs and partly due to changes in their volume. This article attempts to determine the effect of each of these factors by using chain indices to separate annual changes in the values of inputs and of outputs into quantity and price effects. Although 66 per cent of the increase in the volume of production can be attributed to technological advance, it has had only a minor impact on the level of farm income due to the depressing effect of increased output on product prices. Because... Mehr ...