Farm Size-Productivity Relationships in Pre-War Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Shonai Region of Yamagata Prefecture, 1935
利用1935年日本山形县庄内地区水稻农户数据，发现农场规模与土地生产率或投入强度之间没有明确的负相关关系，土地租赁市场在出租方面近乎完美但在租入方面存在限制，导致土地稀缺农户保留过多劳动力。
This paper exploits farm-level data of rice cultivating farmers in 1935 to examine the farm sizeproductivity relationship in the Shonai Region of Yamagata Prefecture. We find no clear inverse relationship between farm size and land productivity or input intensity. The farmland rental market was almost perfect for leasing-out but not for leasing-in. These findings suggest that the inverse relationship did not prevail because the farmland rental market was relatively efficient. However, we did find some evidence that landscarce farmers were not able to lease-in enough land, and therefore kept excess labor relative to land.