Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:51:10.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Demand for Food Grain in China: New Insights into a Controversy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Xiaobo Zhang ,
Timothy D. Mount  and
Richard N. Boisvert
Xiaobo Zhang
Affiliation:
International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
Timothy D. Mount
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University
Richard N. Boisvert
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University
Get access

Abstract

There is a substantial controversy in the economics literature over the magnitude of the expenditure elasticity for food grain in China that is caused, to a large extent, by whether time-series or cross-section data are used in the analysis. A set of reasonable elasticities for a complete demand system is estimated by using a panel of county level data in Guangdong Province for the last ten years. The results show that food grain has a small positive income elasticity, implying that food grain is not an inferior good in China. The reason that consumption per capita has not increased during a period of rapid economic growth in income is that the relative prices of the food and non-food substitutes for food grain have decreased.

Type
Articles
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , April 2001 , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banks, James, Blundell, R., and Lewbel, A. 1997. “Quadratic Engel Curves and Consumer Demand.” The Review of Economics and Statistics LXXIX (4):527–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berndt. 1990. The Practice of Econometrics: Classic and Contemporary. Anderson-Wesley Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Bouis, H. 1995. “Methodology Issues.” Population and Food in the Early Twenty-first Century, Ed. Islam N. IFPRI Report. Washington D. C.Google Scholar
Brown, L. 1995. Who Will Feed China? Waking-up Call for a Small Planet. W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Buse, A. 1994. “Evaluating the Linearized Almost Ideal Demand System.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 76(4): 781–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Shaoha and Ravallion, . 1996. “Data in Transition: Assessing Rural Living Standards in Southern China.” China Economic Review 7(1): 23–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
China State Custom Bureau. 1994–1996. China Custom Statistics. China Statistical Press: Beijing, China.Google Scholar
China State Statistical Bureau (SSB) Various issues. China Statistical Yearbook. China Statistical Press: Beijing, China.Google Scholar
Deaton, A. and Muellbauer, J. 1980. Economics and Consumer Behavior. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deaton, A. 1988. “Quality, Quantity and Spatial Variation of Price.” American Economic Review 78(3): 418–430.Google Scholar
ERS/USDA. 1996. The County Projections and Policy Analysis Model Builder: An Overview of Its Users and Features. United States Department of Agriculture. Washington, DC. June.Google Scholar
Fan, S. and Sombilla, M. 1997a. “Why Do Projections on China's Future Food Supply and Demand Differ?” EPTD Discussion Paper No. 22 IFPRI.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO. 1991. “Demand Prospects for Rice and Other Foodgrains in Selected Asia Countries.” FAO Economic and Social Development paper, No. 97.Google Scholar
Gamaut, R., and Ma, G. 1993. “How Rich is China?: Evidence From the Food Economy.” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30: 121–45.Google Scholar
Green, R. and Alston, J. 1990. “Elasticities in AIDS Models.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 72(2): 442–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guangdong Province Statistical Bureau. 19XX. Guangdong Province Rural Household Sample Survey 1986–1995 (county level). Guangzhou, China.Google Scholar
Guangdong Provincial Statistics Bureau. 1986–1996. Guangdong Province Statistics Yearbook. China Statistical Press: Beijing, China.Google Scholar
Halbrendt, C, Tuan, F., Gempesaw, C. and Dolk-Etz, D. 1994. “Rural Chinese Food Consumption: the Case of Guangdong.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 76(4): 794–799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, C. 1986. Analysis of Panel Data. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Huang, J. and Rozelle, S. 1995. “Market Development and Food Demand in Rural China.” Working paper, International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Huang, J. and Rozelle, S., and Rosegrant, M.W. 1996. “China's Food Economy to the 21st Century: Supply, Demand, and Trade.” Working paper, International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
International Food Policy Research Institute. 1995. Global Food Projections to 2020: Implications for Investment. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Lewis, P. and Andrews, N. 1989. “Household Demand in China.” Applied Economics 21: 793–807 June.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, T.P. 1997. The Economic Geography of Fujian: a Sourcebook, Volume 2. Cornell East Asia Series. Cornell University East Asia Program.Google Scholar
Peterson, E.W.F., Jin, L., and Ito, S. 1991. “An Econometric Analysis of Rice Consumption in the People's Republic of China.” Agricultural Economics 6: 67–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothman, D., Hong, J.H. and Mount, T.D. 1994. “Estimating Consumer Energy Demand Using International Data: Theoretical and Policy Implications.” Energy Journal 15(2).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The World Bank. 1991. China, Options for Reform in the Grain Sector. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Yeung, Y.M., and Chu, S. 1994. Guangdong: Survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change. Chinese University Press: Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xiaobo. 1998. Food Demand in China: A Case of Guangdong Province. Master's Thesis. Cornell University.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xiaobo, Boisvert, R.N., and Mount, T.D. 1998. “Food Demand In China: Lessons from Guangdong Province.” Working paper 98–3. Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics, Cornell University.Google Scholar