MEASURING WELFARE BENEFITS FROM IMPROVEMENTS IN STORAGE TECHNOLOGY WITH AN APPLICATION TO TUNISIAN POTATOES

A multimarket model is used to explore equity and efficiency implications of improving crop storage technology. Two types of technical change are explored. Producers capture most of the benefits from new technologies that reduces the cost of marketing inputs, whereas consumers gain more from technologies that reduce storage losses. In an application of the model to potatoes in Tunisia, improved pest control during storage is estimated to have significantly reduced seasonal variation in market prices and quantities during the 1980s. The rate of return to research on potato storage is estimated to lie between 44% and 74%.