Abstract
The relationship between farm size and land productivity is a disputed one in the field of agricultural development. Based on the original data of Buck’s rural social survey, this study has calculated the land productivity differences of small, small and median, median, median and large, and large farms to verify the argument that small farms have an advantage and explore household behavioral differences and labor market characteristics. The results suggest that imperfect labor markets primarily cause an inverse size–productivity relationship; however, household behavior differences are also considered.
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Notes
- 1.
Buck, Chinese Farm Economy (the Chinese Version), p. 8.
- 2.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), Nanjing, 1937, pp. 8.
- 3.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), Nanjing, 1937, pp. 516–517.
- 4.
Taking the arithmetic average of farm area per capita in each area as a based, the 25% standard deviation as the group distance, the group with the median was the median farm. Meanwhile, there were small & medium-sized farmers and small farmers downward, and median & large and large farms upward.
- 5.
Buck, Land Utilization in China: Statistics (the Chinese Version), Nanjing, 1937, pp. 211.
- 6.
Buck, Chinese Farm Economy (the Chinese Version), p. 222.
- 7.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), p. 361.
- 8.
Buck, Chinese Farm Economy (the Chinese Version), pp. 317–319.
- 9.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), p. 235.
- 10.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), p. 305.
- 11.
Buck, Land Utilization in China (the Chinese Version), p. 303.
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Appendix: Detailed Production Coefficients
Appendix: Detailed Production Coefficients
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Hu, H., Yu, M. (2019). The Relationship Between Farm Size and Land Productivity in Early Twentieth-Century China. In: Hu, H., Zhong, F., Turvey, C. (eds) Chinese Agriculture in the 1930s. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12688-9_10
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