Trade, technology spillovers, and food production in China

This paper studies technology spillovers between China and other countries, international trade in inputs being the prime carrier of knowledge in agricultural production. Human capital characteristics and structural characteristics of the agricultural production systems determine the local usability of foreign knowledge for Chinese farmers. The authors utilize a multi-region applied general equilibrium model analyze Chinese opportunities to benefit from foreign technology improvements in grain production. It is shown that possible negative welfare effects of unilateral trade liberalization of China against North American imports of agricultural inputs may be more than compensated by productivity gains if technology spillovers are included.(Weltwirtsch Arch/SWP)