China＇s New Rural Income Support Policy： Impacts on Grain Production and Rural Income Inequality

I. Introduction Since the beginning of 2004, the Chinese Government has replaced its centuries-old policy of taxing agriculture by a new policy aimed at subsidizing agriculture and stimulating rural incomes. To this end, agricultural taxes – standing at around 8 percent of agricultural incomes – were drastically reduced. By now they are abolished in most provinces. Inaddition, farmers growing grain receive a direct income subsidy, new seed varieties and mechanization are subsidized, and la…     

Assessing the Impact of Agricultural Technology Adoption on Farmers' Well‐being Using Propensity‐Score Matching Analysis in Rural China

The present paper assesses the impact of improved upland rice technology on farmers' well‐being. The study uses propensity‐score matching to address the problem of ‘self‐selection,’ because technology adoption is not randomly assigned. It applies this procedure to household survey data collected in Yunnan, China in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The findings indicate that improved upland rice technology has a robust and positive effect on farmers' well‐being, as measured by income levels and the incidence of poverty. The effect of technology on well‐being shows a diminishing impact on producers' incomes. This implies that newer innovations are continuously needed to replace older technologies that have reached their saturation points.     

Policy Options for China＇s Bio-ethanol Development and the Implications for Its Agricultural Economy

The present paper analyzes the potential impacts of bio-ethanol expansion on agricultural production, food prices and farmers＇ incomes in different regions of China. The results show that increase in demand for feedstock to produce bio-ethanol will lead to large increase in the prices of agricultural products. The increase in prices will trigger a significant rise in the production of feedstock at the cost of lower rice and wheat production. The study also reveals that the impacts of bio-ethanol on farmers＂ incomes vary largely among regions and farmer groups. Given the expected expansion of bio-ethanol production in the future, and the limited land resources for feedstock production in China, the viability of different crops as feedstock for bio-ethanol requires careful analysis before a large-scale expansion of China＇s bio-ethanol program. Bio-ethanol production in China should be relying more on the second generation of bio-ethanol technologies （i.e. using celluloses to produce bio-ethanol）, and China＇s government should increase research investment in this field.     

Does off-farm employment contribute to agriculture-based environmental pollution? New insights from a village-level analysis in Jiangxi Province, China

This study examines the conventional wisdom that off-farm employment contributes to environmental pollution by increasing the use of agro-chemicals. In order to analyse the role of household decision making and village factor markets in more detail, we run simulations with a hybrid farm household/village computable general equilibrium model that is applied to a village in Northeast Jiangxi Province. We find that the negative lost-labour effect of off-farm employment on agricultural incomes is much stronger than the (small) positive income effect. As a result of reduced labour resources and increased leisure consumption, farm households reduce the intensity of rice cultivation as well as the production of (especially) cash crops. The shift in production activities is stronger for migration than for off-farm employment, because migrants cannot combine off-farm work with onfarm work, and because migration reduces the village market price of oxen services. The shift towards less intensive rice production means that off-farm employment (and migration in particular) reduces the levels of chemical inputs and manure used in agricultural production. The decline in fertilizer input is much larger than the decline in manure use, because manure is a nontradable commodity and is applied only once per year. We therefore conclude that migration and, to a lesser extent, local off-farm employment lead to lower incomes from agricultural production, but have benign effects on environmental quality.     

Social Policy and Mortality Decline in East Asia and Latin America

Since 1960, Chile and Costa Rica have improved life expectancy and infant survival as much as South Korea and Taiwan, despite growing more slowly, suffering more income poverty, and having more unequally distributed incomes. This paper analyzes the origins and impact of the publicly-funded social services that allowed Chile and Costa Rica to achieve rapid reductions in the risk of early death, despite relatively poor performance on income-related indicators; and explores how South Korea and Taiwan managed to achieve similar progress at reducing premature mortality, despite making less deliberate efforts to fund social services for the poor.     

Searching for an Environmental Kuznets Curve in China's air pollution

Intuitively, the concept of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is relatively easy to understand: pollution will initially increase with economic development but then decrease again as incomes attain a certain level. The overall concept of pollution, however, actually consists of various components which may behave differently and are not easily combined into a single measure. As a result, the measurement or tracking of an EKC becomes more difficult as one tries to develop a tractable measure of pollution for modeling or policy purposes. For example, in China levels of sulfur dioxide and particulate pollution show some signs of diminishing while nitrogen dioxide levels have increased as China's auto fleet has grown. Consequently, different studies estimating an EKC often generate different results depending upon which pollutant is used and how it is measured. This paper generates composite measures of Chinese air pollution using Nemerow methodology as well as a new epidemiological index based upon the health effects of the pollutants. The paper then tests these index measures to determine whether they display evidence of an EKC and also to examine how they behave in comparison to the individual pollutants.     

Comparative Economics of Maize and Rice Production among Resource-Poor Farmers in Anambra State of Nigeria

Abstract: Maize and Rice are some of the most important grains in Nigeria. Although Nigeria has the potential to become self-sufficient in their production, maize and rice production currently lags behind demand. This study has examined the characteristics of resource-poor maize and rice farmers, (defined in terms of land availability, estimated income per farmer, access to credit and capital) in Anambra State of Nigeria, the impact of these characteristics on yield, and the efficiency of use of stated inputs by the farmers. It was found that low income farmers (both maize and rice) had smaller farm size, smaller loan size (credit), adopted a smaller number of recommended production technologies, had lower levels of formal education, are younger, had a smaller household size, and less number of years of farming experience than high income farmers. The regression analysis result shows that farm size, credit, level of adoption of recommended production technologies, level of formal education of fanners, and age of farmers are significantly related to the maize farmers' output, but household size and number of years of farming experience account for less. In the case of rice farmers, the regression analysis result reveals that farm size, level of adoption of recommended production technologies and number of years of farming experience are significantly related to the farmers' output, but level of formal education of farmers, age of farmers, household size, and credit account for less. The results of gross margin analysis reveal that maize and rice production are not very profitable when the present value of the Naira in relation to cost of living in Nigeria is considered.     

The human cost of China's industrial growth

This paper examines whether industrial growth during economic development is associated with a high workplace fatality rate by using panel data from China. Controlling for provincial and year fixed effects, our estimations show that provincial industrial growth has a positive impact on the workplace fatality rate. We also find that both the growth of industrial labor productivity and the growth of industrial employment have an impact on workplace fatalities. Our instrumental variable fixed effects estimations, which control for simultaneity, show an even greater effect of industrial growth on the fatality rate. Our empirical findings suggest that the Chinese government ought to reconsider its growth-centered policies to save lives.     

A decomposition analysis of income inequality of Chinese rural households

This paper reports an application of household survey data collected from grain producing areas in five provinces of China to issues of the determinants of rural inequality. Previous studies suggest that non-agricultural activities have been the major cause of rural income inequality, which has important implications for policy formulation. However, our results show that inequality within the grain producing areas was also very high, with differences in crop income as the major source of inequality. The policy implications are also different from those of previous studies. While some suggest that an increase in agricultural income can reduce inequality, our results indicate that this is not universally true. In some cases, whether the increase in crop income has come from state procurement also matters. These results call for a more cautious and area-specific approach to policy formulation as far as inequality is concerned.     

Income inequality in central Spain, 1690–1800

This paper studies the evolution of income inequality in central Spain during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara. The first part of the paper presents the sources and the dataset that was created to estimate income inequality using grain tithes. The second section shows that through the period grain represented the lion share of total income and therefore that it can be used as a reliable proxy. The following part of the paper introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the period 1690–1800 and concludes that inequality decreased during the last third of the eighteenth century. Finally the paper addresses this unexpected result and concludes that it was consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara, thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups.     

农地制度改革与农民财产性收入关系研究述评

随着我国经济的不断发展,农民收入水平有了很大的提升,但城乡收入差距不断扩大的趋势并未有所改变,进入21世纪以来,基尼系数一直保持在0.4以上,成了世界上收入分配最不平等的国家之一,这已引起社会各界的高度关注。那么,如何缩小城乡收入差距?一些学者开始把目光转移到如何提高农民财产性收入上来。因为土地是农民最大的财产,应该成为农民收入的重要来源,但在现实中由于土地制度的约束使其财产收入功能的发挥受到严重影响,所以,要提高农民财产性收入就必须改革土地制度。基于此,文章对农民财产性收入与农地制度关系的研究进行综述,以期为全面深化改革的研究与决策提供参考。     

Sustainable natural resource use in rural China: Recent trends and policies

In this paper we provide an overview of recent trends in the availability and quality of land and water resources in rural China, and examine the common presumption that rural resources are rapidly degrading in China. Data based on consistent definitions and measurement methods that have recently become available are used to that end. In addition, we analyse the impact of new policy initiatives to introduce market-based instruments and new institutions to address land degradation and water scarcity problems.We find that the decline in cultivated area has accelerated in the beginning of the new century. Ecological recovery programs, not urbanization and industrialization, are the major factors causing this decline. Ecological recovery programs are also a major force behind the increase in forest land area and the reduction of water erosion. Modest successes can be observed in the protection of wetlands and (until the mid-1980s) for the average quality of cultivated land. On the other hand, degradation of natural grassland and wind erosion have become much more severe in recent decades.In northern China, particularly in the 3-H (Hai and Luan, Huai and Huang) river basins, the availability of water has tightened. Groundwater tables have fallen considerably in the Hai river basin, because farmers increasingly rely on groundwater for irrigation. Evidence on other parts of northern China is mixed. Pollution of surface water is getting worse since the beginning of the 1990s in two major lakes in southern China and until recently in the rivers in northern China. Water quality problems in the larger rivers in southern China are less severe and getting less. These problems are to a large extent caused by agriculture-based non-point source pollution, especially in the major lakes and reservoirs.The sloping land conversion program, water pricing, and the establishment of water user associations and payments for environmental service projects are used as cases to examine the introduction of market-based instruments and new institutions. We argue that less government interference in the implementation of these instruments and institutions is likely to enhance ecological as well the economic benefits. Moreover, supportive measures to improve the functioning of land and labor markets are usually needed to ensure the sustainability of the impact of interventions.     

Is there any gain from social security privatization?

Increasing calls for a social security reform of switching from the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system to a funded system has been seen in recent decades. This paper examines the effect of this reform on capital accumulation and the welfare of each generation. Three methods are used to finance the pension debt, government debt financing, tax financing, and government asset financing. With government debt or tax financing, the market equilibrium remains unchanged and all generations are as well off in the new system as in the PAYG system. Thus, switching from the PAYG system to a funded system is neutral. With government asset financing, the interest rate will decrease, private capital will increase, but the total output may either increase or decrease. The welfare effect is also ambiguous in general, depending on the rate of return of government assets. With plausible parameters, our simulation shows that the reform will lower the interest rate, increase private capital, and lower government capital in the short run, but raise government capital and increase output in the long run.     

Productivity growth, technological progress, and efficiency change in chinese agriculture after rural economic reforms: A DEA approach

This study applies a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to analyze total factor productivity, technology, and efficiency changes in Chinese agricultural production from 1984 to 1993. Twenty-nine provinces in China were classified into advanced-technology and low-technology categories. The Malmquist (1953) productivity measures were decomposed into two components: technical change index and efficiency change index. The results show that total factor productivity has risen in most provinces for both technology categories during the 1984–1993 period. Technical progress was mostly attributed to Chinese agricultural productivity growth after the rural economic reforms. The deterioration in technical efficiency in many provinces indicates China has great potential to increase productivity through improved technical efficiency. Enhancing rural education and research and development (R&D) in agriculture may also help farmers to improve technical efficiency and productivity in agricultural production.     

农产品价格波动对农民收入的影响

随着我国农业政策的完善,政府通过国家宏观调控对农产品价格进行了一定的调整,确保了农民收入的提高。影响农产品价格和农民收入的因素有很多,其中主要在于农业生产技术和生产模式。因此,为了进一步明确农产品波动对农民收入的影响,也为了寻求最好的方案来解决我国农民收入较低的现状,文章分析了投入产出模型结构,并提出了农产品波动与农民收入之间的具体关系式。通过此关系式,提出了增加我国农民收入的主要途径。     

Incentives versus equality: What does China's recent experience show?

Since 1978, China's economic policies have stressed differential rewards for higher productivity, particularly through the contract system in rural areas. This has permitted and encouraged some families to achieve relatively high incomes. However, there was considerable inequality in China before 1978, particularly the persistent and wide disparity between urban and rural incomes. The economic reform has had some tendency to increase slightly the share of income received by the very top group and to reduce slightly the share of the bottom one-third. However, the principal effects have been to raise total income for most residents and to reduce substantially the urban-rural gap.     

Transactional activities and total factor productivity growth in Taiwan

Total factor productivity (TFP) growth shows how rapidly an economy is enhancing technology and the efficiency with which it allocates resources. It has been argued that “miraculous” growth in East Asian economies may not be sustainable, due to relatively low rates of TFP growth. Among these economies, it appears that Taiwan has indeed exhibited substantial technological progress. Failure to control for transactional activities, however, can distort the impression of TFP growth. This study recalculates Taiwan's TFP growth for the 1957–1993 sample period, adjusting for transaction costs in the government and private sectors. For the early years of the sample, 1957–1973, the economy's technological progress is better than GDP-based calculations suggest. In recent years, 1983–1993, productivity improvement has been overstated, but the economy has still exhibited relatively fast TFP growth.     

ADOPTION AND PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT OF MODERN RICE VARIETIES IN BANGLADESH

Technological progress has helped Bangladesh to achieve self‐sufficiency in rice production in 2001 from a heavy import‐dependence, despite doubling of population and a reduction in arable land since its independence in 1971. As the adoption of modern varieties (MV) of rice is reaching a plateau, particularly for the irrigated ecosystem, an important issue is whether the research system will be able to sustain the growth of production. The present paper addresses the following questions: (i) to what extent farmers have been replacing the old MV with the new MV, and (ii) what has been the impact of the variety replacement on productivity and profitability. How crucial is the continuous research and release of improved rice varieties toward improving farm production and income for farmers comes out as a clear message to policymakers from the current paper.     

加快中小企业发展是实施扩大内需发展战略的保证

面对金融危机的冲击,为保证我国经济持续稳定增长,中央提出了实施扩大内需发展战略。我国是农民占人口多数的国家。农民收入水平不高是造成我国内需不振的主要原因。要落实扩大内需发展战略就必须采取措施增加农民收入,而增加农民收入就必须大力发展中小企业。     

合法转让权是农民财产性收入的基础——成都市农村集体土地流转的调查研究

建立在完整财产权基础上的土地流转是提高农民收入、统筹城乡发展的关键之一,而合法转让权则是财产权的核心。通过对近年来成都市农村土地在确权后进行合法流转的大量案例进行调查研究发现,建立在合法转让权基础上的土地流转,可以为农民带来可观的收入,而农民收益的高低与其获得的财产权利强弱紧密相关。政府应该在界定和保护产权的同时,打破城乡要素流动壁垒,逐渐从直接参与土地交易中抽身而出,完成向"公共服务提供者"角色的转变。在农地确权的基础上进行的集体土地流转,可以提高农民财产性收入,为统筹城乡发展奠定基础。