Does Land Fragmentation Increase the Cost of Cultivation? Evidence from India
利用印度全国代表性调查数据，区分地块平均面积和地块间平均距离两个维度，发现土地细碎化主要通过使地块面积低于机械化门槛来增加成本，而地块间距离对大型农场成本影响较小。
To appreciate overall impacts of fragmentation, underlying channels, and potential heterogeneity by holding size, we distinguish average fragment size and mean inter-fragment distance as two aspects of this phenomenon. Estimating a cost function with associated input demand equations on a large nationally representative Indian survey, robust to endogeneity, suggests that fragmentation’s main impact is to reduce mean plot size below the threshold for mechanisation. Higher inter-fragment distances increase costs for larger holdings, but by a much smaller magnitude. Implications as to when programmes to consolidate holdings may make sense and ways to ensure their sustainability are discussed.