How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence

Output in Chinese agriculture has grown rapidly for the last several decades, as reported by the Statistical System in China. However, reported total output is aggregated using constant prices, which has been proven to be inappropriate by many economists. As a result, growth rates of output reported...

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Autor principal: Fan, Shenggen
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 1997
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161158
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author Fan, Shenggen
author_browse Fan, Shenggen
author_facet Fan, Shenggen
author_sort Fan, Shenggen
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Output in Chinese agriculture has grown rapidly for the last several decades, as reported by the Statistical System in China. However, reported total output is aggregated using constant prices, which has been proven to be inappropriate by many economists. As a result, growth rates of output reported by the government may be biased. This bias can be large, particularly at a time when relative prices of agricultural products were changed substantially as part of the policy reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. A similar problem exists in the aggregation of total input. Consequently, estimates of total factor productivity, an index of output minus input, can also be biased. This study uses a more appropriate approach to measure growth in output, input and total factor productivity for Chinese agriculture. Using newly estimated production and productivity growth indexes, the impact of rural reforms are reassessed. The conventional approach overestimates the impact of the rural reforms on both production and productivity growth. Nevertheless, both production and productivity still grew at respectable rates during the reform period.
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spelling CGSpace1611582025-11-06T07:19:45Z How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence Fan, Shenggen agricultural productivity agricultural growth Output in Chinese agriculture has grown rapidly for the last several decades, as reported by the Statistical System in China. However, reported total output is aggregated using constant prices, which has been proven to be inappropriate by many economists. As a result, growth rates of output reported by the government may be biased. This bias can be large, particularly at a time when relative prices of agricultural products were changed substantially as part of the policy reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. A similar problem exists in the aggregation of total input. Consequently, estimates of total factor productivity, an index of output minus input, can also be biased. This study uses a more appropriate approach to measure growth in output, input and total factor productivity for Chinese agriculture. Using newly estimated production and productivity growth indexes, the impact of rural reforms are reassessed. The conventional approach overestimates the impact of the rural reforms on both production and productivity growth. Nevertheless, both production and productivity still grew at respectable rates during the reform period. 1997 2024-11-21T09:53:51Z 2024-11-21T09:53:51Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161158 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Fan, Shenggen. 1997. How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?;new measurement and evidence. EPTD Discussion Paper 30. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161158
spellingShingle agricultural productivity
agricultural growth
Fan, Shenggen
How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title_full How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title_fullStr How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title_full_unstemmed How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title_short How fast have China's agricultural production and productivity really been growing?: new measurement and evidence
title_sort how fast have china s agricultural production and productivity really been growing new measurement and evidence
topic agricultural productivity
agricultural growth
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161158
work_keys_str_mv AT fanshenggen howfasthavechinasagriculturalproductionandproductivityreallybeengrowingnewmeasurementandevidence