Labor-machine substitution in agriculture
Today, February 25, 2024, there’s a lively online discussion about Indonesia’s increasingly high food prices. Some people are comparing rice prices abroad vs. in Indonesia, asking why other countries can keep prices low. The answer, of course, is that abroad (at least in Western countries) rice can be imported freely without government intervention. The follow-up question: if we’re an agrarian country, how can domestic production be more expensive than imports? There are many answers to this, and they’ve been addressed elsewhere – for instance in this CIPS publication or Arianto Patunru’s blog. Excellent reads, both of them.
Feb 25, 2024