Productivity and comparative advantage in rice agriculture in Southeast Asia since 1870

Abstract

Rice long dominated the agricultural economies of Southeast Asia. Given the economic predominance of agriculture, the development of rice production had a significant bearing on the economies in the region. This article explains why the countries of mainland Southeast Asia long dominated the international rice market. It quantifies labour productivity in rice production and argues that simple, low-cost and labour-extensive, but low-yielding production technology allowed farmers in mainland Southeast Asia to achieve significantly higher levels of labour productivity than in the more densely populated rice-producing areas in Southeast Asia and Japan. High levels of labour productivity were a major source of comparative advantage in rice production for Burma, Thailand and Southern Vietnam.