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Abstract
This article proposes a nonparametric analysis in which the change in the distribution of
farm size between two periods is decomposed into several components, and the
contributions of subgroups of farms to this change are analyzed. Using data on Israeli
family farms, we analyze the changes in the farm size distribution in two separate time
periods that are characterized by very different market conditions, focusing on the
different contributions of full-time farms and part-time farms to the overall distributional
changes. We find that between 1971 and 1981, a period characterized by stability and
prosperity, the farm size distribution has shifted to the right with relatively minor changes
in higher moments of the distribution. On the other hand, between 1981 and 1995, a
largely unfavorable period to Israeli farmers, the change in the distribution was much
more complex. While the overall change in the size distribution of farms was smaller in
magnitude than in the earlier period, higher moments of the distribution were not less
important than the increase in the mean. Between 1971 and 1981 the contributions of
full-time farms and part-time farms to the change in the size distribution are quite similar.
Between 1981 and 1995, however, full time farms contributed mostly to the growth in the
average farm size, while average farm size among part-time farms actually decreased,
and their contribution to the variance of farm size was quantitatively larger. We conclude
that the contribution of part-time farming to the increase in farm size inequality is not
straightforward. Rather, it depends on the economic environment.