후계농업경영인 육성사업의 정책효과 분석-경종작물 재배농가를 중심으로

Estimating the Causal Effects of Fostering Programs for Future Farmers in Crop Production

A government policy targeting to foster program has been a key policy tool used by agricultural authorities in South Korea to ensure the continued development of high quality manpower in agri-cultural industry. Still, not much efforts has been devoted to reveal its causal effects. This study investigates the causal effects of the Beginning Farmers Fostering Program using data collected from National Farm Register Information. Revenues per square meter are used for an outcome variable for measuring the performance of a farm. We tried to minimize self-selection bias usually detected in a program evaluation study via a CEM (coarsened exact matching) approach. We found that vegetable producing farmers who participated in the program had higher revenues compared to a control group. This implies that the program has contributed to raising high quality labor force in agricultural industry through the enhancement of entrepreneurship of participants.