CHANGES IN FARM SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN KOREA: EVIDENCE FROM FARM-LEVEL PANEL DATA 1998-2002

Abstract

This paper investigates how the farm size distribution has changed recently in the Korean agriculture with an aim to document the degree and form of farm consolidation. For the purpose, this study measures and compares Korea farm size distributions, using farm-level panel data collected from 1998 to 2002. To measure accurate and smooth farm size distributions, nonparametric kernel densities, which ensure robustness of the results against possible misspecification, are estimated. The representative sample shows that significant farm consolidation occurred between 1998 and 2002.

This paper investigates how the farm size distribution has changed recently in the Korean agriculture with an aim to document the degree and form of farm consolidation. For the purpose, this study measures and compares Korea farm size distributions, using farm-level panel data collected from 1998 to 2002. To measure accurate and smooth farm size distributions, nonparametric kernel densities, which ensure robustness of the results against possible misspecification, are estimated. The representative sample shows that significant farm consolidation occurred between 1998 and 2002.