THE EFFECT OF RESOURCE INVESTMENT PROGRAMS ON AGRICULTURAL LABOR EMPLOYMENT AND FARM NUMBERS

Investments in natural resources usually are for explain the rate of change in farm numbers. That is, the expressed purposes of conserving, developing, or farm number changes as well as changes in the managing the nation's supply of soil, water, timber, exogenous variables were measured as percentage minerals, and marine resources. Many public changes from a common temporal base. Using the investment programs in natural resources have also Tolley-Schrimper model, Eddleman [2] developed a contained explicit development objectives. Any model to explain the rate of change in employment. explanation of employment and income changes The general regional model used for this paper occurring within a region requires analysis of many consists of three basic types of components. 1 These interacting variables because the effects of natural are (1) product supplies and factor demands for all resource investments may be masked by firms in individual types of industries, (2) aggregate counteractions. product demand and factor supply functions, and (3) Changes in investment levels that shift the the number of firms in each industry. The theoretical supplies of critical resources often occur concurrently model was developed to examine temporal changes in with changes in the demands for products, supplies of employment as the result of changes in exogenous other resources, firm production possibilities, and the shifters that affect labor employment. Variables were number of firms. An important element is the selected that represent each type of shifter. consideration of how equilibration in product and The two-equation model used in this paper was factor markets is affected by programs designed to developed from the more general model to explain change the supplies of resources and, in turn, how simultaneously the absolute changes in both changes in product and factor prices affect the level agricultural employment and farm numbers. The first of output, resource employment and income within equation of the model expresses changes in the recipient region. Differences among regions also agricultural employment as a function of exogenous need to be considered. These differences could exist changes in product demand (agricultural product in either the resource base or industrial structure. price), factor price or prices of factors having Knowledge concerning the relationships between perfectly elastic supplies (agricultural wage rate), natural resource investment and the other important factor supply or shifters of the supply of factors stimuli and changes in employment is vital for any assumed to have other than perfectly elastic supply assessment of priorities among investment functions for the region (investments in education, alternatives. crop allotments, and projects of the Corps of Engineers, Soil Conservation Service, Agricultural