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Rural Population Decline in the 1980s: Impacts of Farm Structure and Federal Farm Programs
Author(s) -
Goetz Stephan J.,
Debertin David L.
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.2307/1243270
Subject(s) - payment , pace , agriculture , population , cash , agricultural economics , business , rural population , rural area , cash crop , economics , economic growth , geography , finance , political science , demography , archaeology , geodesy , sociology , law
Federal farm program benefits accrue disproportionately to large‐scale farm operators, and continue largely because of the political influence of their beneficiaries. Some writers argue that these payments stem the movement of labor out of agriculture, ultimately reducing the pace of rural depopulation. Here, a theoretical model linking farm program payments to population loss is presented and empirically estimated for the years 1980–90. Larger farm program payments as a share of total cash marketing receipts were associated with greater population losses from rural counties. This result holds after controlling for other economic variables affecting population migration from rural areas.