PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Assunção, Juliano
AU  - Bragança, Arthur
AU  - Hemsley, Pedro
TI  - Geographic Heterogeneity and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Brazil
AID  - 10.3368/le.95.4.599
DP  - 2019 Nov 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 599--616
VI  - 95
IP  - 4
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/95/4/599.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/95/4/599.full
SO  - Land Econ2019 Nov 01; 95
AB  - This paper studies the relationship between geographic heterogeneity and technology adoption in the context of the direct planting system (DPS) in Brazil. The DPS is a no-till farming technique that increases productivity and decreases soil degradation. However, it requires adaptation to local conditions to be profitably used. Combining detailed geographic and agricultural data, we show that geographic heterogeneity reduces DPS adoption. This effect is robust to the inclusion of controls and not observed for technologies that do not require local adaptation. These findings are consistent with models in which geographic heterogeneity increases the cost of adapting technologies to local conditions. (JEL O13, Q55)