Scissors difference and its impacts on economic value of cultivated land in China

Abstract

The problem of price scissors difference between industrial products and agricultural products is one of the important problems in China. It impacts not only the living standard improvement of farmers but also the economic value of cultivated land, furthermore results in the direct and indirect loss of cultivated land resources. China's cultivated land area has decreased dramatically in recent years. An important reason for the decrease is the relatively low cost of cultivated land occupancy, which results from the distortion of economic value of cultivated land due to the existence of scissors difference. This study firstly analyzed the dynamic change of scissors difference and calculated the absolute and relative magnitude of scissors difference from 1997 to 2002, then computed the economic value of cultivated land before and after scissors difference adjustment in 2002, and finally discussed the inverted scissors difference. Results suggest that the scissors difference has a remarkable impact on the economic value of cultivated land, and the adjustment of scissors difference even inverted scissors difference to the economic value of cultivated land is indispensable.