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...

Paper replaced with revised version 06/03/08

Studies of total factor productivity in livestock production are rare, but when available provide useful information especially in the context of developing countries such as China where livestock is becoming more important in the domestic agricultural economy. We estimate total factor...

The overall goal of our paper is to understand how WTO will affect the agriculture sector in China. To accomplish this goal we have two specific objectives. First, we seek to provide measures of the distortions in China’'s agricultural sector at a time immediately prior to the nation’s...

The main purpose of the study was to determine the impact of ponds on the adoption of water-saving irrigation (WSI) practices. We hypothesized that access to ponds would increase the likelihood of practicing alternate wetting and drying (AWD). While it seems reasonable that the ability to access...

Leveraging exogenous government irrigation investments and longitudinal household survey data over 15 years, we investigate how irrigation affects agricultural productivity under climate change. We find that the irrigation investment increased the share of irrigated farmland by 11.0%, which, in...

There has been considerable debate but little empirical analysis among academics, policy makers, and civil society about whether intellectual property rights would induce private research in developing countries. China passed its plant variety protection act (PVPA) in 1997 which allowed us to do...

Based on a large-scale survey conducted in 11 large and small eastern cities in 2002, this study employs ordered probit models to estimate the effects of demographic and socio-economic variables on the likelihood of biotech food acceptance in China. This study also employs a dichotomous choice...

Studies of total factor productivity in livestock production are rare, but when available provide useful information especially in the context of developing countries such as China where livestock is becoming more important in the domestic agricultural economy. We estimate total factor...

Abstract: Despite the rise in grade retention in China recently, little work has been done to understand the impact of grade retention on the educational performance of students in China. This paper seeks to redress this shortcoming and examines this impact on 1649 students in 36 elementary...