The Conditional Beta Distribution as a Stochastic Production Function
提出用条件贝塔分布来建模农业产出的概率分布，并给出两阶段最大似然估计方法。用玉米产量对化肥的反应数据发现，化肥显著影响玉米产量分布的前三阶矩，且产量分布呈负偏态。
Abstract The conditional beta distribution is proposed as a parametric model of the probability distribution of agricultural output. A two‐stage maximum likelihood estimation procedure is shown to produce consistent, asymptotically efficient and normal estimates of maximum output and the parameters of the conditional distribution. Application of the procedure to data on corn yield response to fertilizers shows that fertilizers have a significant impact on each of the first three moments of the distribution of corn yield. Corn yield distributions are found to be negatively skewed, implying that above average yields are more probable than below average yields.