Reform Raises Efficiency of Tea Estates in India

Shrabanti Maity

DOI 10.7160/aol.2017.090209
No 2/2017, June
pp. 101-116

Maity, S. (2017) “Reform Raises Ef ciency of Tea Estates in India", AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 101 - 116. ISSN 1804-1930. DOI 10.7160/aol.2017.090209.

Abstract

This study compares the performance of the tea industry of Assam and West Bengal of India between two time stretches each spanning over six years; one ending in 2006-07 - the pre-reform regime - and the other beginning in the next year- the post-reform regime. The basic question addressed is whether reform policy led to improvement in technical ef ciency of the tea industries of these states. The study uses stochastic frontier approach and introduces heterogeneity of tea gardens. Consideration of both Assam and West Bengal tea gardens adds unique avour to this study. The study the study concludes that rehabilitation package of Indian government in the form of reform has paid off even within the existing framework of the tea gardens.JEL Classi cation: C01, Q17, Q19

Keywords

Stochastic Production Frontier, Technical Ef ciency, Tea Gardens, Panel Data, Farm-heterogeneity.

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