Structural Change in Agriculture

Exploring the competitiveness of firms has become an important research topic in empirical economic research in recent years. To strengthen the competitiveness of firms and thus to contribute to a vibrant economy is among the top economic policy objectives. In the research project "Structural Change, Spatial Competition and Revealed Competitiveness: Farm Survival in Austria" we focus on firm survival and firm growth as easily observable market outcomes and indicators of firms' competitiveness, which we denote as “revealed competitiveness”. We will investigate the structural change in the agricultural sector that is characterized by (net) firm exits and considerable growth rates of surviving firms.

Two notions make this sector particularly interesting: First, land – the essential input of farming – is strictly limited, causing farms to compete on the local land market. This form of spatial interdependency has been hardly investigated so far. Second, there is a striking regional heterogeneity of the process of structural change in Austria that seems to be strongly correlated with regional tourism.

This project is financed by the Anniversary Fund auf the Austrian Central Bank (project number 17658) and is conducted in cooperation with the Ausrian Institute of Eocnomic Research (WIFO).