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

Pierre Yared, Nancy Qian and ,
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Xin Meng ()

No 8012, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

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.

Keywords: Central planning; Development; Food procurement; Institutions; Modern chinese history; Prices vs. quantities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N45 P2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-09
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: The Institutional Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959-61 (2010)
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