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Mechanized Agriculture and Social Welfare: The Case of the Tomato Harvester
Author(s) -
Schmitz Andrew,
Seckler David
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1237264
Subject(s) - welfare , compensation (psychology) , wage , agriculture , economics , labour economics , social benefits , minimum wage , social welfare , business , low wage , safety net , agricultural economics , market economy , psychology , ecology , materials science , tailings , political science , psychoanalysis , metallurgy , law , biology
An integrated public‐private approach to mechanical harvesting of tomatoes for canning has sharply reduced producers ' labor requirements. Gross social returns to aggregate research and development expenditures are in the vicinity of 1,000 percent. Even if displaced labor had been compensated for wage loss, net social returns are still highly favorable. Since tomato pickers were unorganized, no compensation was demanded or paid. The analysis indicates a need for policies designed to distribute the benefits and costs of technological change more equitably. Social scientists could properly be concerned with developing institutional means of achieving this goal.