The Incidence of Benefits from U.S. Soybean Productivity Gains in a Context of World Trade

A new procedure for measuring the “K‐shift” in the supply function from new technology is introduced. This procedure is used to show that U.S. soybean total factor productivity increased by 1.6% per year between 1974 and 1983. Brazilian and Argentine soybean productivity increased 2.4% per year during this period. Total economic surplus in the U.S and the rest of the world increased between $@@‐@@1.7 and $@@‐@@3.2 billion. Of this total, U.S. resource owners received between $@@‐@@1.3 and $@@‐@@1.5 billion and U.S. consumers received between a $@@‐@@0.1 and $@@‐@@0.2 billion increase in income from increased soybean productivity.