Farm income, population and farmland prices: a relative information approach

Salois, M., Moss, C. and Erickson, K. (2012) Farm income, population and farmland prices: a relative information approach. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 39 (2). pp. 289-307. ISSN 0165-1587 doi: 10.1093/erae/jbr032

Abstract/Summary

This paper uses an entropy-based information approach to determine if farmland values are more closely associated with urban pressure or farm income. The basic question is: how much information on changes in farm real estate values is contained in changes in population versus changes in returns to production agriculture? Results suggest population is informative, but changes in farmland values are more strongly associated with changes in the distribution of returns. However, this relationship is not true for every region nor does it hold over time, as for some regions and time periods changes in population are more informative. Results have policy implications for both equity and efficiency.