SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Fan, Shenggen; Fang, Cheng; Zhang, Xiaobo.

This paper develops a framework to measure the impact of agricultural research on urban poverty. Increased investments in agricultural R&D can lower food prices by increasing food production, and lower food prices benefit the urban poor because they often spend more than 60% of their income on food. Application of the framework to China shows that these food price effects are large and that the benefits for the urban poor have been about as large as the benefits for the rural poor.

Resource Abundance and Regional Development in China

Palavras-chave: Developing countries; China; Agricultural research; Urban; Poverty; Food Security and Poverty; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16123

Zhang, Xiaobo; Xing, Li; Fan, Shenggen; Luo, Xiaopeng.

Over the past several decades, China has made tremendous progress in market integration and infrastructure development. Demand for natural resources has increased from the booming coastal economies, causing the terms of trade to favor the resource sector, which is predominantly based in the interior regions of the country. However, the gap in economic development level between the coastal and inland regions has widened significantly. In this paper, using a panel data set at the provincial level, we show that Chinese provinces with abundant resources perform worse than their resource-poor counterparts in terms of per capita consumption growth. This trend that resource-poor areas are better off than resource-rich areas is particularly prominent in rural...

Public Investment and Poverty Reduction in Tanzania: Evidence from Household Survey Data

Palavras-chave: China; Regional inequality; Resource curse; Dutch disease; Property rights; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42400

Fan, Shenggen; Nyange, David; Rao, Neetha.

Several recent IFPRI studies have measured the effects of public spending on growth and poverty reduction in selected Asian countries using pooled time-series and cross-region data. However, many African countries lack such data. Using Tanzania as a test case, this study demonstrates how household survey data can be used to assess the impacts of public investments on growth and poverty. A two step procedure is used. First, household survey data are used to link household welfare measures to human capital and household access to infrastructure and technology, while controlling for other community and household characteristics. The second step links household human capital and access to infrastructure and technology to past public investments in these...

Are Returns to Public Investment Lower in Less-favored Rural Areas?: An Empirical Analysis of India

Palavras-chave: Human capital Agricultural research-Africa Public Expenditures; Investments; And Finance Infrastructures Welfare and Poverty Monitoring development outcomes Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/58373

Fan, Shenggen; Hazell, Peter B.R..

Developing countries allocate scarce government funds to investments in rural areas to achieve the twin goals of agricultural growth and poverty alleviation. Choices have to be made between different types of investments, especially infrastructure, human capital and agricultural research, and between different types of agricultural regions, e.g., irrigated and high- and low-potential rainfed areas. This paper develops an econometric approach and provides empirical evidence on the impact of government investments in rural India using district-level data. While irrigated areas played a key role in agricultural growth during the Green Revolution era, our results show that it is now the rainfed areas, including many less-favored areas that offer the most...

INFRASTRUCTURE, OPENNESS, AND REGIONAL INEQUALITY IN INDIA

Palavras-chave: International Development.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42828

Zhang, Xiaobo; Fan, Shenggen.

This paper aims to quantify the driving forces behind the observed divergence of Indian economy. The results show that in a closed economy with agriculture as the predominant mode of production, the comparative advantage is mainly determined by the difference in land quality and climate across regions within a country. However, when the economy opens its door to the rest of the world, a region's comparative advantage is evaluated in a broader global context. Therefore, regions adjacent to more developed economies, or with better infrastructure such as ports and airports, enjoy a far better location advantage for trade and development than landlocked regions. More investment in physical infrastructure such as roads will bring the interior regions...

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND RURAL POVERTY: THE CASE OF RICE RESEARCH IN INDIA AND CHINA

Palavras-chave: Community/Rural/Urban Development.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/19902

Fan, Shenggen; Chan-Kang, Connie; Qian, Keming; Krishnaiah, K..

The study attempts to measure the total benefits from rice varietal improvement research in China and India using variety adoption and performance data over the last two decades. It then uses genetic or pedigree information to partition the total benefits between these two countries and IRRI. Finally, the study uses reported elasticity of poverty reduction with respect to agricultural output growth to assess the effects of national and international research on poverty reduction in rural India and China. The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has contributed tremendously to increase in rice production, accounting for 14-23 percent of total production value over the last two decades in both countries. Rice research has also helped...

SHOULD INDIA INVEST MORE IN LESS-FAVORED AREAS?

Palavras-chave: Crop Production/Industries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16098

Fan, Shenggen; Hazell, Peter B.R..

Developing countries have to allocate limited government resources for rural areas among different investment activities and regions to achieve the twin goals of productivity growth and poverty alleviation. This is particularly important at a time when many countries are facing severe financial constraints. This paper develops a framework and provides empirical evidence on the impact of government investments in technology, irrigation, education and infrastructure on agricultural productivity growth and rural poverty reduction in rural India. The results reveal that government investments in more favored areas played significant roles during the green revolution period. But the marginal returns from additional government investments in these areas have...

High food prices: The what, who, and how of proposed policy actions

Palavras-chave: Community/Rural/Urban Development.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16091

von Braun, Joachim; Ahmed, Akhter U.; Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo; Fan, Shenggen; Gulati, Ashok; Hoddinott, John; Pandya-Lorch, Rajul; Rosegrant, Mark W.; Ruel, Marie T.; Torero, Maximo; van Rheenen, Teunis; von Grebmer, Klaus.

LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC GOODS PROVISION

Palavras-chave: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/48293

Zhang, Xiaobo; Fan, Shenggen; Zhang, Linxiu; Huang, Jikun.

Since the early nineties, tens of thousands of villages have held elections of their leaders in rural China. Using a recent village survey, this paper empirically examines the impact of election on public goods provision to the rural community. We found that elected officials tend to tax less on constituents and provide them more with public services.

HOW FAST HAVE CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY REALLY BEEN GROWING? NEW MEASUREMENT AND EVIDENCE

Palavras-chave: Public Economics.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/20570

Fan, Shenggen.

Output in Chinese agriculture has grown rapidly for the last several decades, as reported by the Statistical System in China. However, reported total output is aggregated using constant prices, which has been proven to be inappropriate by many economists. As a result, growth rates of output reported by the government may be biased. This bias can be large, particularly at a time when relative prices of agricultural products were changed substantially as part of the policy reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. A similar problem exists in the aggregation of total input. Consequently, estimates of total factor productivity, an index of output minus input, can also be biased. This study uses a more appropriate approach to measure growth in output, input and total...

PUBLIC SPENDING IN DEVELOPING COUTRIES: TRENDS, DETERMINATION, AND IMPACT

Palavras-chave: Productivity Analysis.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16118

Fan, Shenggen; Rao, Neetha.

The objective of this paper is to review trends in government expenditures in the developing world, to analyze the causes of change, and to develop an analytical framework for determining the differential impacts of various government expenditures on economic growth. Contrary to common belief, it is found that structural adjustment programs increased the size of government spending, but not all sectors received equal treatment. As a share of total government spending, expenditures on agriculture, education, and infrastructure in Africa; on agricultural and health in Asia; and on education and infrastructure in Latin America, all declined as a result of the structural adjustment programs. The impact of various types of government spending on economic...

LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC GOODS PROVISION IN RURAL CHINA

Palavras-chave: Public Economics.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16080

Zhang, Xiaobo; Fan, Shenggen; Zhang, Linxiu; Huang, Jikun.

In developing countries, identifying the most effective community-level governance structure is a key issue and, increasingly, empirical evaluation of the effects of democratization on the provision of local public goods is needed. Since the early 1990s, tens of thousands of villages in rural China have held local-government elections, providing a good opportunity to investigate the effect of democratization on the level of public goods provision. Using a recent village survey conducted over a significant period of time, this paper compares governance by elected officials with that of appointed cadres and finds that elected officials tend to tax constituents less and provide them with higher levels of public services.

A Typology of Food Security in Developing Countries under High Food Prices

Palavras-chave: Governance; Democracy; Public goods provision; China; Public Economics; D73; H41; P35.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16120

Yu, Bingxin; You, Liangzhi; Fan, Shenggen.

The recent surge in food prices around the world may reverse the gains of reducing hunger and poverty in the recent years. This paper employs factor and sequential typology analysis using data for 175 countries to identify groups of countries categorized according to four measures of food security: utilization, availability, accessibility and stability. Nine indicators are used for this study: calories intake, protein intake, fat intake, food production, the ratio of total exports to food imports, soil fertility, length of growing period, coefficient of variation of length of growing period and urbanization. The analysis first identifies 5 distinct food security groups characterized by food intake then further split these groups based on similarities and...

Investing In African Agriculture to Halve Poverty By 2015

Palavras-chave: Food security; Factor analysis; Agricultural potential; Typology; Trade; Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; International Development; C0; F0; O1.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51043

Fan, Shenggen; Johnson, Michael; Saurkar, Anuja; Makombe, Tsitsi.

This paper proposes a simple methodology to estimate the agricultural spending that will be required to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015 (MDG1) in 30 sub-Saharan African countries. This method uses growth-poverty and growth-expenditure elasticities to estimate the financial resources required to meet the MDG1, considering both the direct and indirect impacts of agricultural spending on poverty reduction. The paper attempts to address a key knowledge gap by improving estimation of MDG costs at both the regional and country levels.

Rice Production Response in Cambodia

Palavras-chave: Poverty; Millennium Development Goals; Investment; Sub-Saharan Africa; Agriculture; Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42807

Yu, Bingxin; Fan, Shenggen.

This paper analyzes how Cambodian farmers and the government can respond to the rise of rice price. The study estimates rice production response in Cambodia using the Cambodia Socio-Economic Surveys (CSES) conducted in 2004 and 2007. The results indicate that agricultural productivity is far from its potential and can be increased substantially by using modern technology and inputs such as fertilizers and irrigation. Our findings also suggest that the Cambodian government needs to design its investment strategy to relax constraints in rural infrastructure such as transportation and electricity in order to increase its agricultural production and productivity and boost farmers’ income.

Investing in agriculture to overcome the world food crisis and reduce poverty and hunger

Palavras-chave: Production response; Government investment; Price; Rice; Cambodia; Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries; Food Security and Poverty; Production Economics; C21; O13; Q1.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51042

Fan, Shenggen; Rosegrant, Mark W..

Tipo: Report

Palavras-chave: Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/47661

ROAD DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN CHINA

Fan, Shenggen; Chan-Kang, Connie.

Since 1978, China has adopted a series of economic reforms leading to rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at about 9 percent per annum from 1978 to 2002, while per capita income increased by 8 percent per annum. The post-reform period was also characterized by an unprecedented decline in poverty. However, income inequality has worsened between coastal and interior provinces as well as between rural and urban areas. A number of factors contributed to this widening disparity in regional development in China, including differences in natural resources endowments, and infrastructure and human capital development. When the policy reforms began in 1978, China was poorly endowed with transportation...

National and International Agricultural Research and Poverty: Findings in the case of wheat in China

Palavras-chave: Food Security and Poverty; International Development.

Ano: 2004

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/60182

Chan-Kang, Connie; Fan, Shenggen; Qian, Keming.

The objective of this paper is to assess the economic and poverty impact of wheat research in China and the contribution of CIMMYT. Our results show that wheat research conducted by China and CIMMYT contributed significantly to increases in wheat production in China. These research benefits amounted respectively to 1.1 billion and 6.1 billion US dollars (measured in 2000 constant price) in 1982 and 1998. These represent 11.9 to 22.7 percent of the total value of wheat production. The impact of CIMMYT breeding research through direct sowing or use as breeding material is not very significant in China. However, these results may mask important variations across provinces within China. Offspring of CIMMYT varieties are mostly planted in Southwestern and...

HOW CHINA'S WTO ACCESSION AFFECTS RURAL ECONOMY IN THE LESS-DEVELOPED REGIONS: A MULTI-REGION, GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS

Palavras-chave: Food Security and Poverty.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/22185

Diao, Xinshen; Fan, Shenggen; Zhang, Xiaobo.

This study constructs a regional CGE model of China to analyze the differential regional impacts of China’s WTO accession on agricultural production, trade, and farmers’ income. The results show that China’s WTO accession will generally improve the total welfare but will widen existing gaps among regions and sectors. It is expected that the agricultural sector will suffer if only agricultural trade is liberalized, as cheap imports of agricultural products, particularly grains, will increase and domestic agricultural production and farmers’ agricultural income will decline. Full trade liberalization, i.e., lifting trade barriers in both agriculture and non-agriculture will benefit farmers and agriculture at the national level. However, the increase in rural...

Past and Future Sources of Growth For China

Palavras-chave: International Relations/Trade.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/16290

Fan, Shenggen; Zhang, Xiaobo; Robinson, Sherman.

This study develops an analytical framework to account for sources of rapid economic growth in China. The traditional Solow approach includes only two sources, i.e. increased use of inputs and technical change. We expanded the approach to include a third source of economic growth—structural change. The empirical results show that structural change has contributed to growth significantly by reallocating resources from low productivity to high productivity sectors, especially by moving labor from agricultural production to rural enterprises. We also found that the returns to capital investment in both agricultural production and rural enterprises are much higher than those in urban sectors, indicating underinvestment in rural areas. On the other hand, labor...