FARM SIZE-FARM PRODUCTIVITY REEXAMINED - EVIDENCE FROM RURAL EGYPT

A major component of the economic rationale for redistributive land reform is the empirically observed inverse relation between farm size and farm productivity. A major policy implication of this statistical relationship, frequently suggested, is for a small farm bias in agricultural development strategy. This article examines the hypothesis that while the above inverse relation may hold in the static context of a relatively backward agriculture, it breaks down with advancing levels of technological innovation, and to show, using primary data from village surveys, that this latter process has indeed been taking place in the context of rural Egypt. The article points out some of the conceptual and methodological confusion of earlier studies.