RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Crop Allocation and Increasing Returns to Fertilizer Use in China
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 491
OP 508
DO 10.3368/le.97.2.491
VO 97
IS 2
A1 Feifei Sun
A1 David Abler
A1 Xiaohua Yu
YR 2021
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/97/2/491.abstract
AB This study sheds light on the effects of crop allocation on economic returns to chemical fertilizer in Chinese agriculture and attempts to explain the increasing trend of aggregate fertilizer use from a different angle even though the government tried to limit the application. We show in theory and through simulation and empirical analyses that while the marginal product of fertilizer is declining at the intensive margin (for a specific crop), this may be offset by an increasing marginal product of fertilizer at the extensive margin (due to shifts in the structure of crops produced).