Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Over the past three decades, China has implemented reforms in the agricultural sector in an attempt to increase efficiency and food security. However, China now faces a number of environmental degradation problems, in part, caused by her past agricultural reforms. In this paper...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47099 |
| _version_ | 1848757741643890688 |
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| author | Zhu, S. Xu, X. Ren, X. Sun, T. Oxley, Leslie Rae, A. Ma, H. |
| author_facet | Zhu, S. Xu, X. Ren, X. Sun, T. Oxley, Leslie Rae, A. Ma, H. |
| author_sort | Zhu, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Over the past three decades, China has implemented reforms in the agricultural sector in an attempt to increase efficiency and food security. However, China now faces a number of environmental degradation problems, in part, caused by her past agricultural reforms. In this paper we estimate, using a provincial-based panel dataset, a third-order translog cost function for China's grain production sector over the period 1990-2011. Results from the estimation, including estimated elasticities of demand for and substitution of factors, suggest that labor and capital are substitutes. This arises because the increasing cost of labor, induced by urbanization and the growth of the manufacturing sector, has lead to a substitution of machinery for labor in the production of wheat. The results are consistent with current government policies to encourage via subsidies and agricultural mechanization, which we show to be technically, a substitute for labor. We further conclude this will create an additional bonus of reducing the amount of fertilizer that is needed to efficiently and securely produce wheat in China, as the new capital is more efficient at fertilizer distribution. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:32:55Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-47099 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:32:55Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-470992017-09-13T14:27:26Z Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector Zhu, S. Xu, X. Ren, X. Sun, T. Oxley, Leslie Rae, A. Ma, H. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Over the past three decades, China has implemented reforms in the agricultural sector in an attempt to increase efficiency and food security. However, China now faces a number of environmental degradation problems, in part, caused by her past agricultural reforms. In this paper we estimate, using a provincial-based panel dataset, a third-order translog cost function for China's grain production sector over the period 1990-2011. Results from the estimation, including estimated elasticities of demand for and substitution of factors, suggest that labor and capital are substitutes. This arises because the increasing cost of labor, induced by urbanization and the growth of the manufacturing sector, has lead to a substitution of machinery for labor in the production of wheat. The results are consistent with current government policies to encourage via subsidies and agricultural mechanization, which we show to be technically, a substitute for labor. We further conclude this will create an additional bonus of reducing the amount of fertilizer that is needed to efficiently and securely produce wheat in China, as the new capital is more efficient at fertilizer distribution. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47099 10.1016/j.econmod.2015.11.027 restricted |
| spellingShingle | Zhu, S. Xu, X. Ren, X. Sun, T. Oxley, Leslie Rae, A. Ma, H. Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title | Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title_full | Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title_fullStr | Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title_short | Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector |
| title_sort | modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in china's wheat production sector |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47099 |