This paper estimates the long-run transmission of the Great Leap Famine (1959-61) to the current trade of Chinese provinces. Based on the provincial dispersion of famine severity, we find that provinces more severely affected by the famine have smaller food exports compared to non-food exports,...

This paper estimates the long-run transmission of the Great Leap Famine (1959-61) to the current trade of Chinese provinces. Based on the provincial dispersion of famine severity, we find that provinces more severely affected by the famine have smaller food exports compared to non-food exports,...

By providing more public goods (irrigation), collective agriculture can deal with negative weather shocks more effectively. Yet, collective institutions are fraught with problems of work incentives, excessive grain procurement, and the like, which in one extreme historical instance had resulted...

We argue that measurement error in historical price data has led researchers to erroneously believe that there was little persistence of inflation during the 19th century. Using a statistical technique that accounts for these errors, we estimate the persistence of (a) US inflation and (b)...