租佃市場環境、生產技術轉變與稻作農場生產力

Land Tenure Market, Technical Change, and Farms' Productivity

本文首先對日治時期租佃市場環境以及生產技術的變遷過程進行檢視與分析，接著以臺灣總督府殖產局1926年~1927年第一期稻作農場調查資料為基礎所比對整理出個別稻作農場之跨期橫斷面資料（panel data），利用Malmquist生產力指數分別衡量自耕與耕稻作農場生產力的變動情況，並且進一步以技術變動以及技術效率變動來檢視造成稻作農場生產力的變動原因。實證結果發現，自耕農場與個耕農場之生產力均有所成長，而且相對於個耕農場，自耕農場生產力的成長幅度較大；自耕農場技術變動成長幅度大於但耕農場，耕農場在技術效率變動增加幅度上要高於自耕農場。Mann-Whitney U檢定結果顯示無論是Malmquist、技術變動、技術效率變動等指數，自耕農場與個耕農場之間的差異並不具有統計顯著性。迴歸分析發現，農場規模、灌溉排水狀況、稻作品種以及有無使用化學肥料等變數，對於稻作農場之生產力、技術效率以及技術變動會有顯著的影響。

The objective of this paper is to measure the productivities of rented and owner cultivated farms in Taiwan during 1926–1927. We calculate the Malmquist productivity index by using the Nonparametric-frontier method, and decompose the index into two components: technical change and technical efficiency change. Empirical results indicate that on average the owner-cultivated farms had higher productivity growth rate than rented farms, and the growth rate of rented farms was dominated by technical efficiency change. With U-test, owner-cultivated and rented farms showed no significantly difference between their Malmquist productivity growth rates, technical changes, or technical efficiency changes. Regression analyses demonstrate that irrigation condition, farm scale, brand of rice, and the use of chemical fertilizer are important determinants of producers' performance.