Agricultural Transition in China

Domestic and International Perspectives on Technology and Institutional Change

verfasst von: Dr. Jun Du

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Palgrave Studies in Economic History

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book extends current research on the political economy of modern China, with particular regard to agricultural development and its role in economic transition. It uses Neoclassical principles to re-interpret agricultural growth and technological change under complex market institutions with empirical studies on China and selected East Asian economies. The text also questions how technological advances in China contribute to the Great Divergence debate.

Through a comparative analysis of agricultural technical changes in the planting of rice paddies in Japan, Taiwan and China, Du finds that different market institutions and structures have given rise to considerable diversity of agricultural change between different economies in terms of the nature, timing and duration of technological transition. Such diversification has, in turn, affected the trajectories of agricultural and wider economic growth.

Here, Du reflects on the nature of contemporary Chinese economic development and extends observations on agricultural transition to the entirety of Asia, finding that the nature, timing, and time-span of agriculture technology transitions have varied considerably across different economies.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. A General Theory Review

Abstract

Chapter 1 reviews literatures on agricultural growth and China’s food sector performance chronologically from classical economics to neoclassical economics. Neoclassical paradigm relies on some critical hypotheses such as ‘instant market clearance’, ‘relative factor price change-induced factor flow’ and ‘perfect market institutions’. This chapter raises key research questions that, if critical hypotheses do not hold in East Asia’s empirical studies, indicate how technology change could happen under complex market institutions and in what form.

Jun Du

2. Economic Thinking on Chinese Agriculture

Abstract

Chapter 2 uses ‘Great Divergence’ debate and the ‘Involutionary Growth’ in pre-industrial agriculture to support the argument that China’s agricultural technology evolution was a typical case of technology choice determined by complex market institutions. Involutionary growth is an economic phenomenon shown at the end of a possible path of technical change that deviates from the standard induced technology change, where factor accumulation fails to satisfy the criteria for initiating an ideal technological transition.

Jun Du

3. State-Led Changes: Failures and Successes

Abstract

Chapter 3 provides an examination of the impact of agricultural policies on farm input and product markets under reforms. The way in which agricultural policies evolved lead us to observe that, in the short term, the market structure determined by agricultural reform policies played the decisive role in determining the process of technology selection. Based on an analysis of the interaction between two major determinants of agricultural policy—government’s fiscal budget and agricultural output—this chapter found that China’s post-1979 rural market institutions are not so much examples of market-oriented reforms as evidence of a state-oriented mode based on reform of the pricing system.

Jun Du

4. Trends in China’s Grain Production

Abstract

Chapter 4 is an exercise in empirical analysis that investigates the rate and direction of flows of agricultural labour in China to illustrate the decisive role played by the market structure—shaped by different regional institutional factors—during agricultural transition and in terms of technological innovation between the areas of factor inflow and outflow. Meanwhile, through an examination of the characteristics of China’s inter-regional labour (factor) flows after 1979, this chapter also explains how different market structures influence the inter-sectoral and inter-regional factor reallocations, given constraints such as inadequate labour accumulation.

Jun Du

5. Agricultural Transition in Taiwan: Towards a Comparative Study with Mainland China

Abstract

Chapter 5 seeks to identify the existence of technical progress by analysing ‘factor returns’ with empirical studies on both Mainland China and Taiwan. Where there is no obvious increase in arable land and/or labour input, a stable and substantial increase in per capita output growth unambiguously demonstrates the existence of technological progress. Further, analysis of ‘factor return’ in relation to different factors can help us to distinguish different agricultural growth paths, such as technology-based or factor intensification-based growth paths.

Jun Du

6. Agricultural Transition in Selected Asian Economies

Abstract

Chapter 6 is a comparative study of the post-war technical and institutional agricultural transitions in China and selected Asian rice economies, especially Japan. After 1979, inter-sectoral competition for factors and resources between the agriculture and industrial sectors in China increased sharply. In the face of the same demands of technology diffusion, the experiences of China show significant differences in terms of technology selection, localisation and the duration of green revolution initiatives. Compared with China, Japan is another good example of technology deviation during green revolution. This chapter seeks to throw light on these issues by explaining the diversification in the same technology diffusion under different market structures and institutions between China and Japan.

Jun Du

7. Conclusion

Abstract

Chapter 7 summarises the major findings to guide readers to understand East Asia’s agricultural transition with complex market instructional changes. When different economies face the same technology set, differences in their local institutional conditions determine the choice of technologies, as well as the timing and duration of the technological transition process. Through the analysis of agricultural technical changes in China and other Asian economies, this work finds that the examples cited illustrate all too clearly how great technological differences between economies can be. The technology generation gap in the Asian agricultural transitions were determined by the different institutional fundamentals between economies.

Jun Du

Backmatter

Titel: Agricultural Transition in China
verfasst von: Dr. Jun Du
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-76905-9
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76904-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76905-9