The supply response of aggregate agricultural output in Jamaica

A dominant theme in the development literature is that individual agricultural products responds to price incentives, not because of shifts between products, but that total agricultural output is not responsive to price. The econometric evidence for Jamaica shows that this presumption is not valid. The paper begins by reviewing the growth experience of the Jamaican economy. It then analyzes the trends in agricultural production. The remainder of the paper provides the econometric estimates of broad agricultural output to price. The empirical evidence shows that aggregate agricultural output is responsive to price, but it will take time for agricultural production to materialize. A summary of the published estimates of the supply response for individual crops is also presented