Pesticides are used as the primary method of pest control in Asian rice production. Conditions in China have led to demand for high and increasing rice yields, resulting in intensive cultivation and adoption of fertilizer responsive varieties. The consequence has been widespread pest...

The overall goal of this study is to determine the extent by which genetically engineered (GE) crops in China can lead to reductions of pesticide use, the nature and source of the reductions, and whether or not there are any non-pecuniary externalities. One of the first studies of the effect of...

In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis in the rural development literature on the multiple income-generating activities undertaken by rural households and the importance of assets in determining the capacity to undertake these activities. Controlling for the endogeneity of activity...

The policy preference function (PPF) approach has become popular with economists seeking to explain the origin of government policies. In this paper, a distinction between positive and normative work with the PPF concept is made. Positive work is shown to suffer from a variety of shortcomings...

Many Asian countries are expected to undergo structural transformations in their economies and rapid urbanization over the next 25 years. The changes in tastes and lifestyles engendered by urban living are likely to have significant influences on food demand. Changes in marketing systems and...

Books Reviewed include: Agricultural Development in China, 1949-1989: The Collected Papers of Kenneth R. Walker (1931-1989) by Robert F. Ash; Agricultural Restructuring and Sustainability: A Geographical Perspective by Brian Ilbury, Quentin Chiotti, and Timothy Rickard; A New Era for Irrigation

This paper analyzes the effects of urbanization on demand for cereal grains - rice, wheat, and coarse grains - in nine Asian countries. A complete demand system (Almost Ideal Demand System in linear form) is estimated in two stages based on aggregate time series data from 1960 to 1988. In the...

This empirical study uses 100 years of annual data on II agricultural commodities from Belgium to measure the impact of structural changes coinciding with economic development and changes in political institutions on agricultural protection. The analysis shows that changes in agricultural...