Productivity and Source of Growth for Rice

Productivity and Source of Growth for Rice Praduman Kumar Mark W Rosegrant C C MAJI and T Haque(MH)have generated more heat than light, on the issue of economic returns to rice research. Their critique (EPW, September 23, 1995) of our paper 'Productivity and Sources of Growth for Rice in India' (EPW, Review of Agriculture, December 31,1994) is fundamentally wrong. The major points of MH relate to the specification of variables in the regression analysis and the conclusions of the study which according to them are erroneous and misleading. In social sciences one has to be content with proxies for variables, interpolation of missing data, and estimation of parameters based on representati ve sample units. One could always find fault with some of the specifications, unlike in physical science research, which is performed under laboratory conditions. As long as the findings conform to logical judgments, one can use the results for economic policy analysis and decision making.