28-29-30 Ag, O, I, 中国经济发展与转型（英文版） 教学课件.pptVIP

Chinese Modern Economic History Agriculture: Output, Inputs, and Technology Naughton, Chapter 11 Chinese Modern Economic History From 1950 to 1978, food security was always a concern in China. After 1978, food security is no longer a concern. What happened? Two reforms - Technological revolution (change in technology, remember Solow model) Administrative revolution (household responsibility system, price reform; you can think of this as a change in technology) Chinese Modern Economic History Three pillars of change - Improved seeds, irrigation, and fertilizers. These are not new ideas themselves, but new developments in each led to greater productivity. Traditional choice of technology in US and China -two ideas, everybody knows - China: too many people, not enough land US: plenty of land, not so many people Remember the production possibilities frontier? One can choose to produce anywhere on the frontier, but choices inside are not optimal, and those outside are not possible. Meat or potatoes, in the micro textbook. Concept of an isoquant - anywhere on the isoquant is feasible. Farmer must choose his mix of technologies - land, labor, fertilizers, seeds, location, etc. This mix will change with local conditions and local prices (as in US and China) Chinese Modern Economic History See Figure 11.2. In land plentiful US, farmers will generally choose to use more land and less labor. Opposite in China. In US, land is relatively cheaper than labor, per unit of agricultural output. In China, the reverse is true- labor is relatively cheaper than land, per unit of agricultural output. In the US, farmers will look for technological change that saves on labor. In China, farmers will look for technological change that saves on land. See Figure 11.3. In China, output per worker will generally be low. In US, output per unit of land will be relatively low. These are not necessarily problems