台灣稻作農家的生產風險與技術效率之研究：1998-2004

A Study on the Production Risk and Technical Efficiency of Taiwan Rice-Growing Farms: 1998-2004

本文利用考慮異質變異性的隨機生產邊界模型，同時估算1998-2004期間稻作農家的生產風險與技術效率，並分析其影響因素。近年來，台灣的稻米生產是自有勞動節省、耕作機械化、多用肥料、和租地化的型態。實證結果顯示：勞動密集度、機耕工時比率、和租地比率的提高，可以增進技術效率。此外，勞動和肥料是屬於風險遞減型的投入，而土地則是風險遞增型的投入；氣溫的高低會影響生產風險，降雨量則沒有顯著的影響。最後，根據迴歸結果得知：2001-2004 期間的稻農技術效率低於1998-2000 期間，而生產風險則是較高的。

The paper estimated the technical efficiency index of Taiwan ricefarmers using panel data and a stochastic production frontier withheteroscedasticity during the period 1998-2004. The empirical resultsshow that there were trends of own-labor-saving, mechanization ofoperations, fertilizer-using, and farm size expansion by lease. A higherlevel in labor intensity, the ratio of mechanical labor, or the ratio of rentedland would yield a higher technical efficiency. Labor and fertilizer wererisk-decreasing inputs while land was the risk-increasing input.Moreover, production risk was affected by temperature but not byprecipitation. Finally, according to the regression results, the technicalefficiency during 2001-2004 was lower than that during 1998-2000 whilethe production risk of the former was higher than the latter.