Pesticide Productivity: of Bugs and Biases

Abstract

Pesticide productivity is both important and difficult to measure. Typically, pesticide marginal products are estimated without information on the pest pressure. Three theoretical models are developed which suggest absence of such information may cause an underestimation of pesticide productivity. Using application frequency variables as a proxy for pest populations, we show that pesticide marginal products are higher when pest pressure is accounted for.

Keywords

• damage abatement
• marginal product
• pesticide economics
• productivity
• unobserved variables