the effect of credits of early return firms on total factor productivity in agricultural sector case study: babol county

nowadays, in most countries, whether developed or developing, the standing of small and medium economic enterprises has been at the focus of attention by policymakers in these countries. however, opponents and proponents have largely debated the effectiveness of small to medium economic enterprises in iran. with this approach, in mind, the present study was carried out to evaluate the performance of these measures, and to investigate the role of the offered credits in the productivity of small and medium enterprises in the agricultural sector during the years 2007 to 2009. early return enterprises exploited in 2007 in the fields of beekeeping and animal husbandry in babol (a city in northern iran) and (treatment group), selected through census were and compared (using matching methods and malmquist index) with another group of beekeeping and animal husbandry farmers who had not used the credits of the early return firms (control). the results revealed, although payment of credits in these two industries had not had a significant effect on management efficiency (correct combination of total factor production) and on technological improvement, however, it has had an increasing on the scale efficiency, technical efficiency and total factor productivity in these two industries. classification jel: h32; d24; c78; q16