Market power and returns to scale in farm-value share determination: An extension of the Muth–Gardner approach

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of market power and returns to scale in the determination of farm-value share.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper utilizes the equilibrium displacement model to investigate the role of market power and returns to scale in the determination of farm-value share. Contrary to the current literature, the paper incorporates oligopoly power, oligopsony power and non-constant return to scale into one generalized model, which systematically enables us investigate the impacts of market power on the determination and changes of farm-value share.

Findings

The results imply that market power as well as non-constant returns to scale is central to the understanding of farm-value share. These, in turn, indicate that ignoring the impacts of market power and degree of return to scale may overestimate or underestimate the impacts of exogenous shocks on changes in farm-value share.

Originality/value

Thus, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no literature has examined the co-existence of oligopsony power, oligopoly power as well as non-constant return to scale in farm-value share determination. This paper therefore tries to fill this gap.

Citation

Ma, L., Nuetah, A. and Wang, X. (2019), "Market power and returns to scale in farm-value share determination: An extension of the Muth–Gardner approach", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 70-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-01-2018-0003