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Abstract
In order to achieve global food security in the twenty-first century, agricultural productivity rates in the
developing world will need to outpace population growth rates and increases in food prices. Many
developing economies try to incorporate agricultural technology from developed countries into their
agricultural systems to increase efficiency and output. However, adopting these types of technologies may
not be the optimal choice for maximizing agricultural output in the developing world because these types
of technologies require relatively high skill levels to operate, among other frictions. This article uses the
framework developed in Caselli and Coleman (2006) to propose that it is more effective in regards to
agricultural output for countries abundant in low-skill labor (developing countries) to adopt low-skill
complementary agricultural technology, while the reverse is true in developed countries. The chief
finding of this article is that agricultural output is dependent on feasible technology and skill endowments,
and that simply transferring agricultural technology from developed to developing countries will not yield
large agricultural output increases—and may actually create output losses.