Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Studies on the Chinese Economy ((STCE))

Abstract

The agricultural sector in China, with about 7 per cent of the world’s arable land, has the task of supplying food for over 20 per cent of the world’s population. The sheer size of China’s agricultural sector, changes in productivity and its growth performance have important implications for both China and the rest of the world. On one hand China’s agricultural development is significant because of its impact on international trade (in particular agricultural commodity trade). On the other hand the experience of agricultural development in China provides interesting lessons for other developing countries.

The authors sincerely thank Christopher Findlay, Andrew Watson and participants at the 1995 Economists’ Conference in Adelaide and the workshop ‘China’s Agriculture at the Crossroads’ in ANU for valuable comments, and acknowledge support in the form of research grants by the Chinese Economies Research Centre (CERC) of the University of Adelaide, in particular from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ash, Robert (1992) ‘The agricultural sector in China: performance and policy dilemmas during the 1990s’, The China Quarterly, no. 131, pp. 545–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, Randolph, Radha Sinha and Beth Rose (1982) The Chinese Agricultural Economy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Battese, George (1992) ‘Frontier production functions and technical efficiency: a survey of empirical applications in agricultural economics’, Agricultural Economics, no. 7, pp. 185–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, L. (1987) ‘Farm household behaviour, factor markets, and the distributive consequences of commercialisation in early twentieth-century China’, Journal of Economic History, vol. 47, pp. 711–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carolus, C. (1992) ‘Sources of Chinese agricultural growth in the 1980s’, PhD dissertation, Boston University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Jiyuan and Geng Dechang (1990) ‘Zhongguo nongye shengyu laodongli zhuanyi de daolu xuanze’ (Choices in the transfer of rural surplus labour in China), Zhongguo Nongcun Jingji (Chinese Rural Economy), no. 10, pp. 7–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1991) Zhongguo Zhong-changqi Shiwu Fazhan Zhanlue Yanjiu (A study of China’s medium and long-term food development strategy) (Beijing: Agricultural Publishing House).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chinn, D. L. (1977) ‘Land utilisation and productivity in pre-war Chinese agriculture: preconditions for collectivisation’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 59, pp. 559–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comprehensive Survey Team, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1992) Zhongguo Tudi Ziyuan Shengchan Nengli Ji Renkou Chengzailiang Yanjiu (Research in the Population Bearing Capacity of Land Resources in China). (Beijing: People’s University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dittrich, S. R. and R. H. Myers (1971) ‘Resource allocation in traditional agriculture: Republican China, 1937–40, Journal of Political Economy, vol. V, pp. 887–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du Ying (1994) ‘Chengxiang tongkai, jiuye zhuanyi, shichang fayu — zhanwang 1990 niandai zhongguo nongcun de gaige yu fazhan’ (Urban-rural openings, labour transfer and market development — prospects for rural reform and development in the 1990s), Nongye Jingji Wenti (Problems of Agricultural Economy), no. 1, pp. 3–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan Shenggen (1989) ‘Regional Productivity Growth in China’s Agriculture’, PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan Shenggen (1990) Regional Productivity Growth in China’s Agriculture (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fare, R., S. Grosskopf, M. Norris and Z. Zhang (1994) ‘Productivity growth, technical progress and efficiency changes in industrialised countries’, American Economic Review, vol.84, no. 1, pp. 66–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feng Haifa (1987) ‘Woguo nongye zhong shengchanlu de juti jisuan yu fenxi’ (Measurement and analysis of total factor productivity in agricultural production), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Agricultural Technical Economy), no. 6, pp. 5–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Findlay, Christopher, Andrew Watson and Will Martin (1993) Policy reform, Economic Growth and China’s Agriculture (Paris: Development Centre Studies, OECD).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, B. M. and Y. Liu (1992) ‘Economics of scale, plot size, human capital and productivity in Chinese agriculture’, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, vol. 32, pp. 112–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fried, H. O., C. A. K. Lovell and S. S. Schmidt (eds) (1993) The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications (New York: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grifell-Tatje, E. and C. A. K. Lovell (1994) ‘Deregulation and productivity decline: the case of Spanish savings banks’, working paper, Department of Economics, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayami, Yujiro and Vernon Ruttan (1985) Agricultural Development, An International Perspective (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang Jikun and Scott Rozelle (1996) ‘Technological change: rediscovering the engine of productivity growth in China’s rural economy’, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 49, pp. 337–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Yiping (1992) ‘Farmers’ feasible choice set and agricultural performance in China: 1985–1990’, paper presented to the PhD conference in Economics and Business, Canberra, 3–5 November 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang Yiping (1993) ‘Government intervention and agricultural performance in China’, PhD dissertation, Australian National University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Gale (1990) ‘The People’s Republic of China: 1978–90’, Country Studies, no. 8 (California: International Centre for Economic Growth, ICS Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalirajan, K. P., M. B. Obwona and S. Zhao (1996) ‘A decomposition of total factor productivity growth: the case of Chinese agricultural growth before and after reforms’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 78, pp. 331–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendrick, John (1956) ‘Productivity trends: capital and labour’, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 37, pp. 248–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendrick, John (1961) Productivity Trends in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Sijoong (1990) ‘Productivity effects of economic reforms in China’s agriculture’, PhD dissertation, Brown University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lardy, N. R. (1983) Agriculture in China’s Modern Economic Development (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, L. J., R. H. Myers and E. C. Chou (1979) ‘Economic efficiency of agricultural production in Northeast China, circa 1940’, in P. A. Yotopoulos and L. J. Lau (eds), Resource use in agriculture: applications of the profit function to selected countries, vol. 17, no. 1 (Food Research Institute Studies), pp. 99–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Shengru (1992) ‘Shilun Dabohai diqu liangshi shengchan qianli, wenti ji duice’ (Studies of the potential, problems and policies of grain production in Dabohai region), Jingji Dili (Economic Geography), no. 2, pp. 53–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Cyril Zhiren (1988) ‘China’s economic reforms II: western perspectives’, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Justin Yifu (1986) ‘The household responsibility system in China’s agricultural reform: a study of the causes and effects of an institutional change’, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Justin Yifu (1992) ‘Rural reforms and agricultural growth in China’, The American Economic Review, vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 34–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Justin Yifu and Guanzhong Wen (1995) ‘China’s regional grain self-sufficiency policy and its effect on land productivity’, Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 21, pp. 187–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lippit, Victor (1974) Land Reform and Economic Development in China (White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Fuyuan (1993) ‘Zailun nongchanpin huolaodong chengben yaosu’ (Further analysis of labour costs in agricultural products), Nongye Jingji Wenti (Problems of Agricultural Economy), no. 5, pp. 34–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Zhicheng (ed.) (1990) Zhongguo Nongye Zhi Yanjiu (Research on Chinese Agriculture) (Beijing: Chinese Agricultural Technology Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Longworth, John (ed.) (1989) China’s Rural Development Miracle: With International Comparisons (University of Queensland Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu Huoming (1990) ‘Ceding nongye jishu jinbu zhuoyong fangfa bijiao’ (Comparison of the methods of measuring agricultural technical progress), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Agricultural Technical Economy), no. 3, pp. 66–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Marsh (1985) Organisations and Growth in Rural China (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • McMillan, J., J. Whalley and L. Zhu (1989) ‘The impact of China’s economic reforms on agricultural productivity growth’, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 97, pp. 781–807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng Xin and Bai Nansheng (1988) Jigou Biandong: Zhongguo Nongcun Laodongli de Zhuanyi (Structural Change: Transferring agricultural labour in rural China) (Zhejiang: People’s Publishing House).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Agriculture (1987) ‘Woguo liangshi bozhong mianji, muchan yu zongchanliang guanxi de fenxi’ (Analysis of the relationship between sown area, yield and total output of grain), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Agriculture Technical Economy), no. 6, pp. 25–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, T. and Harry Wu (1993) ‘The impacts of economic reforms on Chinese agricultural performance’, working paper no. 93/9 (Chinese Economy Research Unit, University of Adelaide).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nishimizu, M. and J. M. Page (1982) ‘Total factor productivity growth, technological progress and technical efficiency change: dimensions of productivity change in Yugoslavia, 1965–78’, Economic Journal, vol. 92, pp. 920–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, W. (1989) ‘Household production behaviour and income distribution in a 1980s Chinese township: a simulation analysis’, PhD dissertation, Brown University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkins, Dwight and Shahid Yusuf (1984) Rural Development in China (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Putterman, Louis (1993) Continuity and Change in China’s Rural Development: Collective and Reform Eras in Perspective (New York: Oxford University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Putterman, Louis and Ana F. Chiacu (1994) ‘Elasticities and factor weights for agricultural growth accounting: a look at the data for China’, China Economic Review, vol. 5, pp. 191–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • State Statistical Bureau (SSB) (1996) Statistical Yearbook of China 1996 (Beijing: State Statistical Publishing House).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stavis, Benedict (1991) ‘Market reforms and changes in crop productivity: insights from China’, Pacific Affairs, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 371–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, Bruce (1988) ‘Developments in agricultural technology’, The China Quarterly, no. 116, pp. 767–822.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, Yunwing and Thomas Chan (1987) ‘China’s economic reforms I: the debates in China’, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, Anthony M. (1980) ‘Food and agriculture in China: trends and projections 1952–77 and 2000’, in Anthony M. Tang and Bruce Stone, Food production in the People’s Republic of China, research report no.15 (Washington: International Food Research Institute).

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Jeffrey and Judith Banister (1988) ‘China: the problem of employing surplus rural labour’, working paper (Washington, DC: Centre for International Research, US Bureau of the Census).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tian Weiming (1987) ‘Woguo gesheng shi zizhiqu nongye laodong shengchanlu de bijiao yanjiu’ (Comparative studies of provincial agricultural labour productivity), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Agricultural Technical Economy), no. 1, pp. 18–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Jirong, Gail Cramer and Eric Wailes (1996) ‘Production efficiency of Chinese agriculture: evidence from rural household survey data’, Agricultural Economics, vol. 15, pp. 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, Andrew (1987) ‘The family farm, land use and accumulation in agriculture’, The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 17, pp. 1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, Andrew (1994a) ‘China’s agricultural reforms: experiences and achievements of the agricultural sector in the market reform process’, working paper no.94/4 (Chinese Economy Research Unit, University of Adelaide).

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, Andrew (1994b) ‘Market reform and agricultural development in China’, working paper no.94/3 (Chinese Economy Research Unit, University of Adelaide).

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, Andrew (1994c) ‘China’s economic reforms 1987–1993: growth and cycles’, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 48–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weimer, C. (1990) ‘Reform and the constraints on rural industrialisation in China’, University of Hawaii (mimeo).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen, Guanzhong James (1989) ‘The current land tenure system and its impact on long term performance of farming sector: the case of modern China’, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen, Guanzhong James (1993) ‘Total factor productivity changes in China’s farming sector: 1952–1989’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 1–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiens, Thomas (1982a) The Microeconomics of Peasant Economy: China, 1920–1940 (New York: Garland Publishing).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiens, Thomas (1982b) ‘Technological changes’, in R. Barker, R. Sinha and B. Rose (eds), The Chinese Agricultural Economy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, John (1973) Land Reform in the People’s Republic of China (New York: Praeger).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Jingying (1993) ‘Nongming qigeng paohuang wenti zongsu’ (Summarizing the problem of fallow land), Zhongguo Nongcun Jingji (Chinese Rural Economy), no. 9, pp. 25–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Yanrui (1992) ‘Productivity performance of Chinese rural enterprises: a comparative study’, in Trade, investment and prospects in China’s three economies, conference proceedings, Australian National University, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu Yanrui (1995) ‘Productivity growth, technological progress and technical efficiency change in China: a three-sector analysis’, Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 21, pp. 207–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Hong (1994) ‘Grain production in China: productivity changes and provincial disparities 1978–90’, PhD dissertation, University of Adelaide.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang Tiao and Cai Fang (1991) ‘Lun woguo nonghu jianye xingwei yu nongye laodongli zhuanyi’ (On the multiple-activity behaviour of rural households and the transformation of the labour force), Zhongguo Nongcun Jingji (Chinese Rural Economy), no. 11, pp. 43–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Bin and Colin Carter (1994) ‘Weather, rural reforms, and productivity growth in China’s grain production’, working papers no. 94/2 (Chinese Economy Research Unit, University of Adelaide).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Yuerong and Huang Yaohui (1990) ‘Woguo gengdi ziyuan, liangshi shengchan qianli qianxi’ (Study of land resources and potential for grain production), Zhongguo Nongcun Jingji (Chinese Rural Economy), no. 11, pp. 40–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Xigang (1991) ‘Zhongzhiye shengchan jishu jinbu he jingying guimo duice’ (Evaluation of the progress of crop production technology and adjustment of production scale), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Agricultural Technical Economy), no. 1, pp. 9–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Xigang and Zhaolin Shi (1993) ‘Measuring the contribution of technical progress in Chinese agriculture during the Seventh Five Year Plan’, Chinese Agricultural Economy, vol. 9, pp. 28–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Yaqing (1989) ‘Nongye shidu jingying guimo he nongcun shengyu laodongli huanyilu de queding’ (Appropriate scale of farm operation and the rate of transformation of rural surplus labourers), Nongye Jishu Jingji (Technical Economy of Agriculture), no. 3, pp. 31–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Ze (1993) ‘“Minggongchao” wenti de xianzhuang, chengyi he duice’ (Tides of rural labour movement: current situation, causes and policies), Zhongguo Nongcun Jingji (Chinese Rural Economy), no. 12, pp. 33–6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 1999 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wu, Y., Yang, H. (1999). Productivity and Growth in China: a Review. In: Kalirajan, K.P., Wu, Y. (eds) Productivity and Growth in Chinese Agriculture. Studies on the Chinese Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27448-2_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics