Land Measurement Bias and Its Empirical Implications: Evidence from a Validation Exercise

B-Tier
Journal: Economic Development & Cultural Change
Year: 2019
Volume: 67
Issue: 3
Pages: 595 - 624

Authors (4)

Andrew Dillon (not in RePEc) Sydney Gourlay (World Bank Group) Kevin McGee (not in RePEc) Gbemisola Oseni (World Bank Group)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We investigate how land size measurements vary across three land measurement methods (farmer estimated, GPS, and compass-and-rope) and the effect of land measurement error on the inverse farm size relationship and input demand functions. Our findings indicate that self-reported measurement bias leads to overreporting for small plots and underreporting for large plots. The error is nonlinear, is not resolved by trimming of outliers, and results in biased estimates of the inverse land size relationship. Input demand functions that rely on self-reported land measures underestimate the effect of land on input utilization, including fertilizer and household labor.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/698309
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25