Urban Influence on Costs of Production in the Corn Belt
测算玉米带受城市影响与纯农村的作物/畜牧企业的技术效率，发现城市邻近使效率下降约4%，但成功农场能控制成本并减少非奶牛畜牧活动。
This article determines the relative technical efficiency of rural‐ and urban‐influenced crop/livestock enterprises in the Corn Belt. Farmers in urban‐influenced locations are less technically efficient than farmers in rural locations. During 1998–2000, stochastic production frontier procedures indicate that a 10% increase in urban influence leads to a close to 4% decrease in technical efficiency. The most successful urban‐influenced farms have controlled costs as effectively as rural farms. They have tended to de‐emphasize that nondairy livestock activities—particularly beef and hogs—do not rely extensively on off‐farm income, and have relatively large, less residential/lifestyle operations compared to less successful urban‐influenced farmers. However, our statistical analysis clearly bears out the refrain in popular literature that urban proximity raises the cost for, and decreases the viability of, traditional farms.