Impact of human capital on technical efficiency in sustainable food crop production: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

A meta-analysis is substantial for integrating the findings of all related studies into one consistent research to establish a knowledge bank of a common issue. Although several studies have examined the impact of the individual aspect of human capital on farmers’ technical efficiency, the composite impact was not synthesized. Therefore, our analysis examines the key determinants driving systematic variations in technical efficiency estimates from 268 food-crop farming studies published recently in peer-reviewed journals. Our results have supported our hypothesis that human capital increases farming efficiency. The studies’ location indicates the importance of farmer beliefs, trust in their institutions and land accumulation to increase food-crop farmer technical efficiency. Our findings contribute to the applied agricultural economics literature by theoretically systematizing literature on human capital in accordance with social and natural capitals in agricultural productivity and empirically validating the technical efficiency in food-crop farming studies toward developing agricultural sustainability in harmony with our biosphere.

KEYWORDS:

• Human capital
• meta-analysis
• farming efficiency
• food crop
• Vietnam

JEL Classification:

• Q16
• O18
• C14
• C29

Notes

1 Interested readers can find further information on meta-analysis in the field of economics (Card & Krueger, 1995; Espey et al., 1997; Alston et al., 2000; Thiam et al., 2001; Dalhuisen et al., 2003; Bravo-Ureta et al., 2007; Moreira & Bravo-Ureta, 2010; Jiang & Sharp, 2015).

2 The complete report can be found in https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/food-farming-fisheries/trade/documents/agri-market-brief-10_en.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lich Hoang-Khac

Lich Hoang-Khac, Doctor, Head of Personnel Department, University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Tuyen Tiet

Tuyen Tiet, Doctor, researcher in BETA, University of Strasbourg, France.

Nguyen To-The

Nguyen To-The, Doctor, Lecturer in Faculty of Political Economy, University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Tuan Nguyen-Anh

Tuan Nguyen-Anh, Master, Lecturer in Faculty of Political Economy, University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.