Migration is widely known as one of the main ways of alleviating poverty in developing countries, including China. However, migration itself is not costless. In recent years, there is an emerging concern about the effect of migration on the educational achievement of the children of migrants in...

Since the early nineties, tens of thousands of villages have held elections of their leaders in rural China. Using a recent village survey, this paper empirically examines the impact of election on public goods provision to the rural community. We found that elected officials tend to tax less on...

Paper replaced with revised version 06/03/08

Inefficient performance of irrigation systems not only leads to a waste of water resources, but may also affect agriculture production, especially in regions facing a water stress problem. In rural China, only 40% of the water allocated to irrigation is effectively used, a figure much lower than...

This paper first identifies an interesting pattern in farm household livestock production in many developing countries: an inverted-U shape relationship between household livestock production and the levels of economic development (or farm household income). Using backyard hog production as a...

In this paper we find that real grain prices in China have displayed increased volatility in the past decade. This is true for rice, wheat, corn, and for most of provinces. Farmers in China are found to be risk averse because when they make acreage allocation decisions. Given the widespread...

The emergence of biofuels has led to an increase in crop price and subsequently global food prices but the extent of the impact is subject to debate. Fully understanding the role of biofuels on agricultural markets requires properly accounting for the response of all affected inputs and outputs....