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Food Availability and Food Entitlements during the Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine: A dynamic panel data analysis (In French)

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  • Matthieu CLEMENT

Abstract

The article aims at identifying socioeconomic factors which explain the Chinese famine of 1959-1961. The main hypothesis of this paper is that the radicalism of Great Leap Forward policies generated both a decline of agricultural output (availability problems) and the implementation of an inadequate food distribution policy which penalised rural populations (accessibility problems). An econometrical analysis with provincial panel data for the period 1954-1966 points out the role of bad political choices on the occurrence of the famine and confirms the simultaneous influence of food availability decline and food distribution issues on mortality rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthieu CLEMENT, 2010. "Food Availability and Food Entitlements during the Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine: A dynamic panel data analysis (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2010-03, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    • Handle: RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2010-03
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    File URL: http://cahiersdugretha.u-bordeaux.fr/2010/2010-03.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great Leap Froward; famine; food availability; entitlements; dynamic panel data models; generalized method of moments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N55 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O21 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Planning Models; Planning Policy
    • P21 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform
    • P25 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
    • P32 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Collectives; Communes; Agricultural Institutions

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