There is much angst that more than half of cropland in the U.S. is rented, with the usual opprobrium involving farmers at the mercy of landlords, and landlords reaping the benefits of government subsidies. Researchers at the IMF, Princeton, and the University of Toronto studied the farmland rental market across India (Misallocation in Indian Agriculture, Working Paper 29363) and found a very different outcome.  The focus of the study was India’s land rental market on productivity. Instead of exploitation, the researchers found “empirical evidence that states with more rental-market activity feature less misallocation and reallocate land more efficiently over time.” They found that land rentals “have substantial...

TAGS – India, North America, Macroeconomics