Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Benziger, V

Titel

Urban access and rural productivity growth in post-mao China

Ist Teil von

• Economic development and cultural change, 1996-04, Vol.44 (3), p.539-570

Ort / Verlag

Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Erscheinungsjahr

1996

Quelle

EBSCOhost Business Source Ultimate

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The reform of China's rural economy that began in 1978 actually consisted of 3 separate major reforms: 1. the tying of individual rewards directly to output, known as the household responsibility system, 2. the renewed encouragement of specialization, and 3. substantial increases in procurement prices. Peasants were suddenly faced with a wide range of new opportunities. Farmers could now decide which crops to grow and, after fulfilling state procurement contracts, could decide how to market the remainder. Moreover, as the reforms progressed, more and more peasants found work outside of agriculture - in rural industries, commerce, and transport. It is argued that the extent of response to these opportunities at the local level was conditioned by the proximity of urban centers and the degree of access to infrastructure. The role of access to urban markets for agricultural commodities is commonly cited in the spatial development literature. But urban-rural interactions include a wide range of forward and backward linkages (known as spread effects). In general, these spread effects can be expected to be stronger the larger the city of origin and the nearer to it one is located.