Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: An Econometric Analysis of Cherokee Indian Agricultural Performance Before Removal

本文对拆迁时期(1835-1838)的切诺基印第安人农民和后来耕种相同土地的白人农民的农业生产力进行了比较研究。当时，要求撤军的争论围绕着切诺基人使用的低效农业做法。使用随机距离前沿方法，可以估计每个切诺基家庭和白人家庭的技术效率以及其他生产力指标。然而，这项研究的目标不是证明一项过时的政策是合理的，而是检查切罗基农场以及这两个群体之间的效率差异。通过隔离切罗基人和白人社会之间的差异，这项研究将加强我们在这个特殊关头对印第安人/白人关系的理解。数据的收集和分析将大大增加关于美洲原住民的经济研究的匮乏。尽管有大量关于切罗基人文化适应和迁徙的文献，但这个项目是第一次对这两个群体之间的农业表现进行大规模比较研究。

This dissertation research conducts an comparative study of the agricultural productivity of Removal Period (1835-1838) Cherokee Indian farmers and white farmers who later cultivated the same land. At this time, the argument for removal revolved around the inefficient agricultural practices used by the Cherokee. Using the stochastic distance frontier approach, the technical efficiency, as well as other productivity measures, for each Cherokee and white household can be estimated. Yet, the goal for this research is not to justify an antiquated policy, but to examine the variation of efficiency across Cherokee farms as well as between these two groups. By isolating the differences between Cherokee and white societies, this study will strengthen our understanding of Indian/White relations at this particular juncture. The data collection and analysis will add greatly to the dearth of economic studies on Native Americans. Despite a vast literature on Cherokee acculturation and removal, this project is the first large-scale comparative study of the agricultural performance between these two groups.