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The Institutional Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959-61

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  • Yared, Pierre
  • Qian, Nancy
  • ,

Abstract

This paper investigates the institutional causes of China's Great Famine. It presents two empirical findings: 1) in 1959, when the famine began, food production was almost three times more than population subsistence needs; and 2) regions with higher per capita food production that year suffered higher famine mortality rates, a surprising reversal of a typically negative correlation. A simple model based on historical institutional details shows that these patterns are consistent with government policy failure in a centrally planned economy in which the government is unable to easily collect and respond to new information in the presence of an aggregate shock to production.

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  • Yared, Pierre & Qian, Nancy & ,, 2010. "The Institutional Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959-61," CEPR Discussion Papers 8012, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8012
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    1. “The Institutional Causes of China’s Great Famine, 1959-1961,” X. Meng, N. Qian & P. Yared (2011)
      by afinetheorem in A Fine Theorem on 2013-05-19 09:43:59

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Central planning; Development; Food procurement; Institutions; Modern chinese history; Prices vs. quantities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P2 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies

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