Estimating Farm-Level Input Demand and Wheat Supply in the Indian Punjab Using a Translog Profit Function

Application of the translog profit function to farm-level data from Punjab, India, allowed a more disaggregated analysis of the farm production structure compared to the case of Cobb-Douglas formulation. The flexibility afforded by translog formulation permitted measurement of the different impacts that exogenous variables have within and across input demand and output supply functions. Policy-relevant elasticity estimates with respect to variable inputs and output prices, fixed inputs, a few soil-related "state-of-nature" variables measured by soil analysis, and education, which are usually considered constraints to farm production, were obtained, and two examples of policy applications were developed.