Per capita grain output in China and India

Difficulties and complications beset any attempt to compare the performance of the economies of India and China as Prof Donnithorne illustrates in her examination of their per capita grain output. She shows that Chinese per capita grain output has been consistently higher than that of India, a fact which she attributes to the greater natural resource endowment of China, the recycling of wastes and the higher processing factor for grain. This basic difference in productive capacity should not be overlooked when examining the differences in the distributive systems and food availability at the village level.