Productivity and Comparative Advantage in Rice Agriculture in South‐East Asia Since 1870*

Abstract

Rice long dominated the agricultural economies of South‐East Asia. Given the economic predominance of agriculture, the development of rice production had a significant bearing on the economies in the region. This article explains why the countries of mainland South‐East Asia long dominated the international rice market. It quantifies labor productivity in rice production and argues that simple, low‐cost and labor‐extensive, but low‐yielding production technology allowed farmers in mainland South‐East Asia to achieve significantly higher levels of labor product‐ivity than in the more densely populated rice‐producing areas in South‐East Asia and Japan. High levels of labor productivity were a major source of comparative advantage in rice production for Burma, Thailand and Southern Vietnam.