Agricultural Instability in China, 1931-1990: Weather, Technology, and Institutions - Hardcover

by Y. Y. Kueh (Author)

In a detailed and innovative account, Y.Y. Kueh provides a scholarly and authoritative study of the performance of the agricultural sector of the Chinese economy over the past sixty years. Based on detailed statistical data and other source material, Kueh analyzes the interrelationships among natural, economic, and institutional factors which lie at the heart of China's agricultural performance. He describes policy changes, technological advances, and natural factors, and distinguishes the effect of each factor on the level of agricultural production. Through his analysis, Kueh predicts future trends in Chinese agriculture that will be valuable information for all those interested in Chinese economic development and comparative economic history.

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China has always been heavily dependent on its agricultural surplus in order to finance its ambitious industrialization programme. Yet the performance of the agricultural sector has been extremely unstable throughout the twentieth century. Professor Kueh's work is a scholarly and authoritative account of this vital part of the Chinese economy during the period 1931-1991, based upon detailed statistical data and a wide range of other source material. Professor Kueh provides a unique analysis of the interrelationships between the natural, economic, and institutional factors which lie at the heart of China's agricultural performance. He describes policy changes, technological advances, and natural factors (above all, weather conditions), and distinguishes the impact of each upon the changing level of agricultural production. In particular, he has uncovered many original sources which shed new light on the implications of weather disturbance and man-made errors during the Great Leap Forward (1958-60) and the disastrous economic collapse which followed.