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New Deal Regulation and the Revolution in American Farm Productivity. A Case Study of the Diffusion of the Tractor in the Corn Ielt, 1920–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Sally Clarke
Sally Clarke
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, the University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712.
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Abstract

Based on the cost savings of tractors relative to horses, nearly twice as many farmers in the Corn Belt should have invested in tractors as actually did so in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, however, the proportion of farmers owning tractors jumped from 25 to 40 percent. I argue that financial barriers explain farmers' reluctance to buy this expensive invention during the 1920s, while two New Deal regulatory agencies altered farmers' investment climate and spurred the adoption of capital equipment.

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Type
Articles
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 101 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1991

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