Skip to main content
Log in

Total Factor Productivity in Chinese agriculture: The role of infrastructure

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Economics in China

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 July 2007

Abstract

This paper uses the Malmquist index to examine the sources of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in Chinese agriculture. The overall goal of this study is to create a framework for assessing the trend of China’s agricultural infrastructure and to measure its impact on Total Factor Productivity. The main methodological contribution is to provide more contributive measure of crop-specific technologies. Based on the province-level panel data set during 1988–2002, the primary finding is that infrastructure has positively and statistically significant association with the estimated coefficient on Total Factor Productivity for rice, wheat, maize, and bean.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aigner D J, Lovell C A K, Schmidt P (1977). Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production models. Journal of Econometrics, (6): 21–37

  • Ali A I, Seiford L M (1994). The mathematical programming approach to efficiency analysis, edited by Färe, Grosskoff and Lovell (1994), Production Frontiers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 120–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Caves D W, Christensen L R, Diewert W E (1982a). Multilateral comparison of output, input and productivity using superlative index numbers. Economic Journal, 95(365): 73–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caves D W, Christensen L R, Diewert W E (1982b). The economic theory of index numbers and the measurement of input, output and productivity. Econometrica, 50(6): 1393–1414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colby H, Diao H, Somwaru A (2000). Cross commodity analysis of China’s grain sector: sources of growth and supply growth. Technical Bulletin No.1884, Economic Research Service, USDA, Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell C, Schmidt P, Sickles R C (1990). Production frontiers with cross-sectional and time-series variation in efficiency levels. Journal of Econometrics, (46): 185–200

  • Fan Shenggen (1991). Effects of technological change and institutional reform on production growth in Chinese agriculture. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 73(2): 266–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Färe R, Grosskoff S, Lindgren B, Roos P (1992). Productiviity changes in Swedish pharmacies 1980–1989: A nonparametric Malmquist approach. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 3(3): 85–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Färe R, Grosskoff S, Norris M (1997). Productivity growth, technical progress and efficiency change in industrialized countries: reply. American Economic Review, 87(5): 1040–1043

    Google Scholar 

  • Färe R, Grosskoff S, Norris M, Zhang Zhongyang (1994). Productivity growth, technical progress and efficiency change in industrialized countries. American Economic Review, 84(1): 66–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Fulginiti L E, Perrin R K (1997). LDC agriculture: nonparametric Mamquist productivity indexes. Journal of Development Economics, 53(2): 373–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grifell-Tatjé E, Lovell C A (1995). A note on the Malmquist productivity index. Economics Letters, 47: 169–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosskopf S (1994). Efficiency and productivity, edited by Färe, Grosskoff and Lovell (1994), Production Frontiers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 160–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho S P S (1994). Rural China in transition: Non-agricultural development in rural Jiangsu, 1978–1990. Oxford: Clarendon Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang J, Rozelle S (1996). Technological Change: Rediscovering the engine of productivity growth in China’s rural economy. Journal of Development Economics, 49: 337–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Jikun, Rozelle S (1995). Environmental stress and grain yields in China. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 77: 853–864

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin S, Huang J, Hu R, Rozelle S (2002). The creation and spread of technology and total factor productivity in China’s agriculture. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 84(4): 916–930

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson D G (1994). Does China have a grain problem? China Economic Review, 4(1): 1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalirajan K P, Obwona M B (1994). Frontier production function: The stochastic coefficients approach. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 56: 85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalirajan K P, Obwona M B, Zhao S (1996). A decomposition of Total Factor Productivity growth: The case of Chinese agricultural growth before and after reforms. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 70(2): 331–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin J Yifu (1992). Rural reforms and agricultural growth in China. The American Economic Review, 82(1): 34–51

    Google Scholar 

  • McMillan J, Whalley J, Zhu L (1989). The impact of China’s economic reforms on agricultural productivity growth. Journal of Political Economy, 97(8): 781–807

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ray S C, Desli E (1997). Productivity growth, technical progress, and efficiency change in industrialized countries: Comment. American Economic Review. 87(5): 1033–1039

    Google Scholar 

  • Renuka M (2003). To measure or not to measure total factor productivity growth? Oxford Development Studies, 31(3): 365–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen Guanzhong J (1993). Total Factor Productivity change in China’s farming sector: 1952–1989. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 42(1): 1–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Yanrui (1995). Productivity growth, technological progress, and technical efficiency change in China: A three-sector analysis. Journal of Comparative Economics, 21: 207–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chen Weiping.

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11459-007-0024-y.

About this article

Cite this article

Chen, W., Ding, Y. Total Factor Productivity in Chinese agriculture: The role of infrastructure. Front. Econ. China 2, 212–223 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11459-007-0011-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11459-007-0011-3

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation