The Quest for Sustained Growth in Chinese Agriculture

Abstract

During the past decade, the Chinese government has undertaken substantial reforms in agricultural policy. These reforms have reduced administrative interventions in the rural economy, increased reliance on economic ‘levers’, decentralised economic decision-making, and expanded the role of markets. Mandatory planning of production and procurement has been reduced, and direct government investment in agriculture has declined. Increasingly, the government has relied on pricing and incentives to guide agricultural production, marketing and investment.

The author would like to thank Ti Zhongwang and Ye Qiaolun lor their assistance in preparing this paper, and David Colman. Flemming Christiansen and Nicholas Lardy for their very helpful comments. Financial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; the Committee on Scholarly Communications with the People’s Republic of China with funds from the US Information Agency; the American Council of learned Societies Social Science Research Council with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Science Foundation under grant no. SES-8908438 is gratefully acknowledged.