Economics of Technical Change in Wheat Production in the Indian Punjab

Abstract

Abstract A quantitative assessment of the “green revolution” associated with Mexican varieties of wheat in the Indian Punjab is attempted as alternative to the usual impressionistic assessments. Results indicate that the technical change has been cost‐saving and has not been strongly biased in either a labor‐saving or a capital‐saving direction. Wheat production experienced a favorable cost curve shift on the order of about 16 percent. Input demands per acre increased by about 25 percent. Increased capitalized land values lead to inferences about income distribution and constitute a source for reinvestments designed to maintain the momentum of the “green revolution.”