Research and Prodiwiiviiy in Wheat and Maize: An Inlernaiionai Analysis 11 



In other words, time- related increases in new and improved in- 

 puts, new varieties, fertilizers, and knowledge contributed four 

 times as much in wheat and three times as much in maize as the 

 increases in these inputs that were statistically associated with the 

 accumulated research work. This does not mean, however, that 

 research was not productive, as we have seen. 



This chapter reports several tests and experiments. The crude- 

 ness of the data, the lack of information, and the absence of prior 

 work in this area justified in out minds more than the usual 

 amount of experimentation. The general conclusion that runs 

 through all the reported findings supports the basic hypothesis 

 tested: that there is a strong and persistent relationship between 

 agricultural research and biological productivity — yield in wheat 

 and maize. This relationship exists both ''between'' countries and 

 "within" countries over time. 



The economic implications of the estimates indicate a substan- 

 tial contribution of research to productivity. Even if the values in 

 table 4.4 are exaggerated by a factor of 2 (due to the omission of 

 fertilizers and other variables from the regressions), they will still 

 indicate a high return to research work. A major component of 

 research's contribution is through the acceleration of the transfer 

 of knowledge. Little knowledge is borrowed if no indigenous 

 research takes place. The possibilities for the transfer of 

 knowledge are more restricted in maize than in wheat, as the 

 lower transferability factor in this crop indicates. 



The restriction of the present study to wheat and maize enabled 

 experimentation and a close examination that would not have 

 been possible otherwise. But this restriction prevented the inclu- 

 sion of other factors of production in the analysis. Work at higher 

 levels of aggregation with more comprehensive data is reported in 

 the following chapters. 



