The sequencing of reform policies in China's agricultural transition*

This paper provides evidence regarding gains due to agricultural market liberalization in China. We empirically identify the different effects that incentive and farm restructuring reforms and gradual market liberalization have on China's agricultural economy during its transition period. We find that average gains within the agricultural sector due to reforms that improved incentives and increased decision‐making authority of producers exceed gains due to market liberalization by a large margin. Our method of analyzing the effects of transition policies on economic performance can be generalized to other reform paths in other transition economies.     

Food Standards and Welfare: General Equilibrium Effects

We analyse the general equilibrium effects of the growth of high standard food chains on household welfare. To measure structural production changes and welfare effects on rural and urban households, our model has two types of agents, five kinds of products and four types of factors. We calibrate the model using a Chinese dataset. The simulation results show that the effects on poor rural households depend on a variety of factors, including the nature of the shocks leading to the expansion of high standard sector, production technologies, trade effects, spillover effects on low standard markets, factor market constraints and labour market effects.     

Forty years of irrigation development and reform in China

This study reviews 40 years of irrigation development in China including the transformation of the institutional and incentive structures in irrigation management. After rural reforms in the 1970s, irrigation investments slowed until the late 1990s. In North China, farmers became major investors in groundwater irrigation, leading to property rights’ transfer of tube wells from collective to private ownership. Despite positive effects in cropping patterns, farmer income and development of groundwater markets, privatisation has accelerated groundwater table deterioration. Since the middle of 1990s, Water User Associations have replaced village collective management of surface irrigation. This approach was adopted by most provinces by early 2001 with mixed results; only institutions with water‐saving incentives realised efficient irrigation. The Government is reforming water price policies to provide water‐saving incentives to farmers while not hurting their income. While China has focused on water rights and markets, and despite regulations and pilot projects, full implementation of water rights has been slow. Research reveals greater policy scope for expanding irrigation technologies that generate real water saving to rural areas. Given pressure associated with water scarcity and concern for food security, further effective reforms in irrigation and policy incentives are expected. The Government has also initiated some pilot projects to resolve increasing water scarcity problems through adjusting agricultural production activities.     

The Sustainability of the Farm‐level Impact of Bt Cotton in China

The short‐run impact of Bt cotton adoption has been well documented; however, the sustainability of the impact remains unclear. In particular, pest resistance build‐up and secondary pest outbreaks have caused concern regarding the sustainability of this benefit. This paper analyses the effects and impact dynamics of Bt cotton adoption in China. Using six unique waves of panel data collected between 1999 and 2007, we show that the benefits of Bt cotton continue 10 years after it has been commercialised, albeit with evidence of a decline in the benefit since the early adoption period. Importantly, we also show that the benefit has been shared by both Bt and non‐Bt cotton adopters.     

列车票额分配优化模型应用探讨

列车票额分配的优劣直接影响列车的上座率和售票收入。对售票历史数据进行分析,选择合适的数学模型对票额分配效果进行计算,可以得出比现有分配方案更为优化的分配方案。随着需求的变化,根据优化模型对票额分配方案作相应的调节,可以进一步提高上座率和增加收入。     

Policy support and emerging farmer professional cooperatives in rural China

Most farms in China are small and vulnerable to the forces of powerful markets. Recognizing the challenges of small farming, China has promoted farmer professional cooperatives (FPCs) during the past two decades. The overall goal of this study is to analyze the emergence and current status of FPCs, the nature of recent policy initiatives and the role of government policies that have played in promoting recent trends. Based on a unique panel data from two rounds of national representative surveys of 380 villages in 2003 and 2009, this paper shows that while there was nearly no FPC in late 1990s, there were FPCs in 21% of China's villages and these FPCs provided services to about 24 million farm households in 2008. The determinants of FPC analysis show that the role of the government is of primary importance. Policy support measures and, most likely, the new legal setting in China after the passage of the 2006 FPC law, account for most of the growth of FPCs.     

产权性质、信息质量与公司债定价——来自中国资本市场的经验证据

本文利用2007～2011年间沪、深两市公开发行的公司债数据,分析产权性质和信息质量对公司债券初始定价的影响。研究发现:国有产权能够发挥隐性担保作用,通过直接和间接作用路径降低投资者面临的违约风险,从而使公司债券获得较低的信用利差;上市公司自愿披露正面内部控制鉴证报告能够向外界释放高信息质量的积极信号,降低投资者面临的信息风险,从而使公司债券获得较低的信用利差,但这种作用在国有上市公司中却不显著,说明政府的隐性担保可能会使投资者忽视对上市公司信息质量的必要关注,存在诱发道德风险的可能。这些发现有利于深入剖析我国公司债定价存在的深层次问题,从而推动公司债券市场的改革与发展。     

Pesticide productivity,host-plant resistance and productivity in China

Pesticides are used as the primary method of pest controf in Asian rice production. Conditions in China have led to demand for high and increasing rice yields, resulting in intensive cultivation and adoption of fertilizer responsive varieties. The consequence has been widespread pest infestations. Many studies have estimated pesticide productivity, but few have estimated the productivity of alternative methods ot pest control, namely host-plant resistance. None have estimated the substitutability between these methods of pest-control. The productivity of pesticides and host-plant resistance, and the substitutability between them is measured using two-stage Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions. Under intensive rice production systems in eastern China, pesticide productivity is low compared to the productivity of host-plant resistance. In fact, returns to pesticide use are negative at the margin. Host-plant resistance is an effective substitute for pesticides and substantial reductions in pesticide use could be achieved, with no loss in rice production, through improvements in host-plant resistance. These results suggest that pesticides are being overused in eastern China and host-plant resistance is being underutilized. Government policies to promote increased pesticides in rice might be ill advised given the low productivity and negative returns, particularly in light of well known negative externalities associated with pesticide use.     

浅谈CM桩复合地基技术

简单介绍了CM桩的定义、适用条件和作用机理,结合新桩基规范中的变刚度调平设计概念,并通过实验数据的对比,说明了CM桩复合地基技术有很好的利用价值和很大的发展空间。     

The Creation and Spread of Technology and Total Factor Productivity in China's Agriculture

The overall goal of this study is to create a framework for assessing the trends of China's national and international investment in agricultural research and to measure its impact on total factor productivity. The main methodological contribution is to provide more convincing measures of crop–specific technologies from China's national research program and of those imported from the international agricultural research system. Our results find that from 1980 to 1995, China's total factor productivity for rice, wheat, and maize grew rapidly and new technology accounts for most of the productivity growth.