On a smaller scale, responses have been equally rapid in economies as diverse as Thailand and Mexico. In the developed world, government policy toward mechanization has been confined to patent laws for enforcing innovator’s rights and encouraging disclosure; testing of machinery, support of standardization measures, and dissemination of information; and support of agricultural engineering education and some university-based research. These are clearly appropriate interventions. Unlike the case of agricultural research, it is difficult to make a case for any further intervention on the grounds of economic welfare. Where governments have intervened more, they have either had little success, as in numerous publicly funded research efforts, or they have made wrong or controversial choices.’ Mechanical rice milling has been controversial in Indonesia (Timmer 1974, Collier 1974) and is now penetrating Bangladesh. It reduces the demand for women workers, who-because of social customs-have few employment options. On efficiency grounds, milling machines are clearly warranted; on equity grounds, their effects may be harmful.
Any analysis of the potential contribution of mechanization to growth applies as much to a socialist as to a capitalist economy. In both, payoffs depend on the opportunity costs of labor, land, and capital.A crawler tractor, also known as a track tractor or track loader, is a type of heavy machinery that is equipped with a set of continuous tracks instead of wheels. This allows it to have better traction and stability in rough or uneven terrain, such as on construction sites or in forestry operations.