Shenggen Fan Research Articles

FOOD SECURITY: DEFINITION AND EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT

Objective. The objective of the article is to study the evolution of the concept of «food security» and to substantiate the feasibility of forming new approaches to its definition. Methods. The study uses general scientific and research methods: theoretical generalization and comparison (to summarize the definitions of approaches to understanding the essence of the concept of «food security» and changes in the definition of «food security» from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), analysis and synthesis (to determine the factors influencing the change in the concept of «food security»), systematization of definitions (to determine similar views of scientists). Results. The article examines the concept of «food security» as an important socio-economic category that has been transformed over the millennia, reflecting the means of preserving humanity from hunger to meet individual needs at the present stage of development and summarizes its definition. Comparing the definition of «food security» according to the FAO and leading scholars such as Megan Carney, Raj Patel, Shenggen Fan and others, it is necessary to emphasize the areas in which this concept is considered and supplemented, namely social justice, economic development, sustainable agriculture, environmental sustainability, etc. Scientists emphasize that food security is not limited to physical access to food, but also includes the right kind of food, social justice in the distribution of resources and access to them, and the need to preserve the environment. That is, on the one hand, food security is a broad enough concept to be globally oriented, taking into account the needs and conditions of different countries and regions of the world, and on the other hand, at the individual level, it reflects physical, social, and economic access to safe and nutritious food for any person in any time of need, which meets dietary needs and food preferences, which, in turn, ensure an active, fulfilling and healthy life. Thus, the FAO's definition of food security is more general and globally oriented, while the views of the scientists considered in the research provide a more specific and comprehensive approach. In order to address the issue of food security effectively it is important to take into account not only physical access to food but also a wide range of social, economic and environmental factors.

Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World edited by Keijiro Otsuka and Shenggen Fan, Washington, DC, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2021, xxiii + 741 pp.

Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World edited by Keijiro Otsuka and Shenggen Fan, Washington, DC, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2021, xxiii + 741 pp.

Keijiro Otsuka and Shenggen Fan, eds: Agricultural development: new perspectives in a changing world

Keijiro Otsuka and Shenggen Fan, eds: Agricultural development: new perspectives in a changing world

Economics in food systems transformation.

Economists must embrace the food systems approach and emerging economies must engage in setting the global food systems agenda, argues Shenggen Fan.

The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China ed. by Shenggen Fan et al.

Reviewed by: The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China ed. by Shenggen Fan et al. Kent Deng Shenggen Fan, Ravi Kanbur, Shang-Jin Wei, and Xiaobo Zhang (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Economics of China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. xxi + 622 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-967820-4, $140.00 (cloth). This is a miniencyclopedia on contemporary Chinese economy: its key factors, key players, key institutions, main mechanisms, and distinctive growth patterns and trajectories. This book is, without a doubt, a huge undertaking, containing a total of 98 short articles under 15 sections written by a total of 121 contributors, of whom two-thirds are ethnically Chinese. It would have been impossible in 1978, when China just abandoned the Maoist fundamentalism and opened its door to the outside world, to round up so many qualified Chinese to write about China’s growth and modernity the western way. At that time the Chinese economy was structurally premodern (i.e., predominantly rural) and autarkical (with less external trade than Hong Kong or Taiwan); very few Chinese mainlanders commanded the English language. The lineup of the authors does give the reader the impression that Chinese scholars are catching up quickly in social sciences of the West, which was unthinkable three decades ago. This volume aims to inform readers of China with a wide range instead of a great depth, a necessary tryout perhaps. On the average, each short article is 5.6 pages long. The use of references and citations is kept minimal. Hence, articles reflect authors’ briefings, or assessments and judgements, rather than their original research outputs. In this context, this volume suits the general public instead of specialists. Several characteristics of this volume will catch the reader’s attention. First of all, economic transition, a topic that dominated studies of post-Mao China until a decade ago, has marginalized: only four articles (2, 10, 33, and 74) are devoted to it. So, there seems a consensus among the authors that China has overcome its transitional phase and that the reforms have passed the point of no return. Secondly, the role of the state remained a repertoire topic regarding, for example, choices of growth strategies and policies, and ways to govern the market/economy (13 articles). This certainly reflects China’s reality since 1949. Thirdly, related to the role of the state, there is an acute awareness of socioeconomic and gender inequality and relative poverty in society (10 articles). This discussion of inequality and poverty is a new phenomenon given that the ruling party openly commits to communism and the welfare of one and every citizen in society. Inequality and poverty used to be treated as the state secret. [End Page 223] Fourthly, there is a strong concern about China’s external impact on the world (10 articles). This is new considering that Maoist autarky existed only a few decades ago. Finally, and rather unexpectedly, there are more articles on China’s regional growth and development than any other topic (16 articles). This obviously is an issue for both current and future generations. Generally speaking, this volume is descriptive. Analysis is, at best, tacit. The amount of information on each particular topic is good only for those who want to have a rough idea about China. Specialists will find them inadequate due to the word limit that each article had to comply with. The real issue is, however, the possible shelf life of this volume. China has been changing very fast—for good or bad. Clearly, the golden age of China’s explosive economic growth and development is now over. That type of growth occurred between 1980, when Deng Xiaoping’s reforms gained momentum, and late 2008, when the world financial sector experienced its meltdown. After 2009, the Chinese growth model has been facing very tough challenges. Firstly, the Maoist legacy of super-cheap labor has been a thing of the past. China’s labor market is no longer the most competitive one in the world. Factories have begun to move out of China to other regions where labor is cheaper. Secondly, China’s high dependence on exports at the expense of its domestic consumption has backfired. Overseas orders...

Xinshen Diao, James Thurlow, Samuel Benin & Shenggen Fan (Eds): Strategies and priorities for African agriculture: economy-wide perspectives from country studies

Xinshen Diao, James Thurlow, Samuel Benin & Shenggen Fan (Eds): Strategies and priorities for African agriculture: economy-wide perspectives from country studies

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue.Congo Masquerade: The Political Culture of Aid Inefficiency and Reform Failure. By Theodore Trefon.African Conflicts and Informal Power: Big Men and Networks. Edited by M. Utas.The Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier. By Edward Glaeser.Living Through Crises. How the Food, Fuel and Financial Shocks Affect the Poor. Edited by Rasmus Heltberg, Naomi Hossain and Anna Reva.Delivering Aid Differently. Lessons from the Field. Edited by Wolfgang Fengler and Homi Kharas.Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Edited by Shenggen Fan and Rajul Pandya‐Lorch.

Shenggen Fan and Rajul Pandya-Lorch (eds): Reshaping agriculture for nutrition and health

Shenggen Fan and Rajul Pandya-Lorch (eds): Reshaping agriculture for nutrition and health

Shenggen Fan, ed. Public Expenditures, Growth, and Poverty: Lessons from Developing Countries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Pp. xv+249. $65.00 (cloth); $29.95 (paper).

Shenggen Fan, ed. <i>Public Expenditures, Growth, and Poverty: Lessons from Developing Countries</i>. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Pp. xv+249. $65.00 (cloth); $29.95 (paper).

Urban Growth Drivers and Spatial Inequalities: Europe – A Case with Geographically Sticky People

This book is a compilation of latest contributions on rural-urban disparities associated with economic growth and development, and policy options to alleviate a perceived divide between cities and hinterland. It includes articles from foremost researchers in urban, rural and international economics Vernon Henderson (Brown University), Paul Cheshire (London School of Economics and Political Science), Kym Anderson (University of Adelaide), Shenggen Fan (International Food Policy Research Institute), Devashish Mitra (Syracuse University), Mark Partridge (Ohio State University) and JunJie Wu (Oregon State University). This book s global coverage includes findings from major developed and developing economies (United States, Europe, China, India, Korea, Canada, Australia, Chile and Africa). Evidence of rural-urban disparities and their root causes in each economy are examined in detail with emphasis on the role of globalization, i.e. increased flows of trade, investment and knowledge among economies. The authors eloquently articulate the challenges in alleviating the divide in an urban-biased policy environment of most economies.

The Dragon and the Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India

Book Review| October 01 2009 The Dragon and the Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India The Dragon and the Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India. Ashok Gulati and Shenggen Fan. David Ludden David Ludden Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Agricultural History (2009) 83 (4): 557–558. https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-83.4.557 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation David Ludden; The Dragon and the Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India. Agricultural History 1 January 2009; 83 (4): 557–558. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-83.4.557 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsAgricultural History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2009 Agricultural History Society2009 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Public Expenditures, Growth, and Poverty: Lessons from Developing Countries

DOl: 10.1355/ae26-2k Public Expenditures, Growth, and Poverty: Lessons from Developing Countries. Edited by Shenggen Fan. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Pp. 249. The introductory chapter begins by noting that More than 1 billion people around the globe still live on less than US$1 a day as measured in purchasing power parity in 2001. Over the past 20 years, rapid economic growth in East Asia has reduced the total number of poor people from 800 million in 1981 to 270 million in 2001. In South Asia, during the same period the total number of poor people declined only marginally, from 480 million to 430 million. (p. 1). Furthermore, on both economic and moral grounds, currently practised policies and programmes aimed at poverty reduction are not sufficient to reduce human deprivation to more acceptable levels. is obvious, therefore, that a 'business as usual' approach is wholly inadequate. Instead, a more effective poverty alleviation strategy is urgently required in recognition of the fact that persistent poverty and malnutrition result in irreversible costs to human and economic development. (p-1). Coady and Fan make numerous key points about using public resources as a core to alleviation strategies. They point out that public resources must be used efficiently and [t]his requires appropriate recognition of the existing administrative and institutional constrains in developing countries and the fact that capacity can be built up only gradually (p. 9). They argue that more effective ways of delivering public resources must be constructed and this means improving the abilities of community, non-governmental and private entities (supported by the state), and making certain that public projects are operationally and financially feasible and sustainable. They make the important point that micro resource allocations must be made within a strategy that takes a macro focus. Their point is that [although government expenditures are allocated to different sectors to achieve specific social or economic development objectives, their impact often goes beyond the targeted sector through their general equilibrium and economy wide effects. While adopting an economy wide approach is very data intensive and requires complicated modeling, ... it is important to understand how much bias will occur if general equilibrium effects are ignored. (p. 14). The volume's introduction provides a carefully thought-out foundation upon which six additional scholars join Coady and Fan in collectively producing chapters that focus on trends in, and the impact of public spending in developing countries; public investment's impact on growth and rural poverty; human capital expenditures aimed at the poor, social safety nets; and a special look at public spending, growth and poverty in subSaharan Africa (where the number of poor has almost doubled, from 160 million in 1981 to more than 300 million in 2001. The chapter by Fan, Bingxin Yu, and Anuja Saurkar highlight major trends in, and the composition of government expenditures ... across developing regions of African, Asia, and Latin America (p. 21). It analyses the determinants of the composition of government expenditures, the effects of such expenditures on gross domestic product, and how the expenditures impact agricultural growth and therefore rural poverty reduction. Their methodology requires a basic understanding of economic theory. However, those who wish to read the book while not having this background will nevertheless gain insights because the co-authors offer a readable narrative that captures the essence of the book's more technical work. That essence is sixfold. First, returns from public investments vary widely across different types of investments and regions including within the same country. Second, agricultural research, education and rural infrastructure are the three types of public spending that are most likely to promote agricultural growth and reduce poverty. …

Review: The Dragon &amp;amp; The Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India edited by Ashok Gulati and Shenggen Fan

Review: The Dragon & The Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India Ashok Gulati and Shenggen Fan (Eds.) Reviewed by Varinder Jain Centre for Development Studies, India Gulati, Ashok and Fan, Shenggen (Eds.). The Dragon & The Elephant: Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. xxvi + 548pp. ISBN 978-0-8018- 8787-1. US$38.00, paper. The economies of China and India have gained recognition as growing Asian giants, who have made wonders in attaining not only higher levels of growth but also mitigating the plight of their masses through a variety of public programmes. A variety of reforms undertaken by these economies have engaged researchers worldwide in making detailed enquiries about these economies mainly for tracing out potential lessons for other developing nations who are yet in the preliminary stages of a voyage towards economic growth and poverty mitigation. One such sincere effort is made by ‘International Food Policy and Research Institute’ (IFPRI) who have brought researchers and practitioners from both the countries together to provide a detailed (comparative) account of rural and agricultural reforms undertaken by these Asian giants. Consequently, as many as thirty-two eminent scholars from both countries have engaged themselves in providing a comparative account of rural development and agricultural reform experiences of China and India, mainly with an interest to enquire about the nature, pattern, processes, impacts and potential lessons emanating from the rural and agricultural reforms undertaken by both economies. The subject matter of the book is quite comprehensive, informative and thought-provoking. Specifically, the twenty-two contributions address the issues of land tenure system, land institutions, land reforms, health systems, public investment and poverty reduction, anti-poverty programmes, agricultural trade, agricultural diversification, rural non-farm sector, agricultural research and technology etc. Obviously such broad coverage of subject matter, besides the comprehensiveness of each and every contribution, makes this anthology a unique volume providing a comparative account of the rural segments of both economies. It is noteworthy that though a number of books on comparative assessment of Chinese and Indian economy’s growth performance have emerged recently, the appearance of this anthology fulfills the long desire of researchers and practitioners who wish to understand the dynamics and contrast of rural segments in these economies. Overall, the book is well-conceived and well-written and above all, is quite user-friendly with detailed index, references and succinctly described contents. Given the twofold aim of the book, i.e. “What can the two nations learn from each other in terms of their reform experiences and their impact on agricultural growth and poverty? What can countries in transition learn from these two experiments?” (pp. xxi), a careful reading leaves no disappointment with the editors’ and writers’ sincere effort in fulfilling these objectives. The analytical exercises provide a range of policy and strategic options to attain the twin objectives of high growth and poverty reduction in the future. Strengthening of specific institutional arrangements, development of sound safety nets, introducing suitable trade and market reforms in addition to channeling properly the public spending undertaken by these economies have been the major thought-provoking policy guidelines emerging from this volume. It is, beyond doubt, an outstanding contribution to the existing literature on the Chinese and Indian economies and thereby a must-read for the students of international relations, practitioners, policy makers and researchers interested in not only the economies of China and India but also those who are interested in eradicating poverty from the globe and ameliorating the conditions of rural poor. Varinder Jain , Research Scholar, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 011, Kerala, India. TEL: +91-989-541-8673. Electronic Green Journal, Issue 27, Fall 2008, ISSN: 1076-7975

Rural Changes Stimulate Rising Giants

The Dragon and the Elephant . Agricultural and Rural Reforms in China and India. Ashok Gulati and Shenggen Fan, Eds . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2007. 574 pp. $75. ISBN 9780801887864. Paper, $38. ISBN 9780801887871. Published for the International Food Policy Research Institute. Exploring the reasons for the dramatic growth of the rural economies of China and India over the past few decades, the authors consider what lessons can be applied to other developing nations and to the problems of poverty in these two countries.

The Rise of Agrarian Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Agricultural Modernization, Agribusiness and Collective Land Rights

In what forms are agribusinesses entering agriculture and interacting with farmers? How are land, labor and capital now controlled by corporate and individual actors, and then organized into agricultural production? How does such control and organization shape the relationships between the actors? In this article we argue that agrarian capitalism is expanding in China. The means of production, such as capital and land, are increasingly controlled by agribusiness, while direct producers increasingly sell their labor for a living. We document various forms in which agribusiness companies are conducting transactions with individual agricultural producers. We also argue that China's unique system of land rights featuring collective ownership but individualized usage rights has acted as a powerful force in shaping interactions between agribusiness and direct producers. It provides farmers with a source of economic income and political bargaining power, and restricts corporate actors from dispossessing farmers of their land. We find strong norms protecting farmers' collective land rights in the agricultural sector, contrary to the received wisdom about weak protection of land rights in China. In the rest of the paper, we first review the policy context in which this transformation has taken place. Next we introduce our method of data collection, summarize the five forms of agribusiness-farmer interaction found in our study, and analyze each of the five forms in depth. We conclude with a discussion of the causes and characteristics of the rise of agrarian capitalism, with a focus on the role of the land rights system.

Reforms, Investment, and Poverty in Rural China

Shenggen FanInternational Food Policy Research Institute and Institute of AgriculturalEconomics of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesLinxiu ZhangCenter for Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of SciencesXiaobo ZhangInternational Food Policy Research InstituteI. IntroductionChina is one of the few countries in the developing world that has madeprogress in reducing its total number of poor over the past 25 years.

Agricultural growth, poverty reduction and agro-ecological zones in India: an ecological fallacy?

In an article in this journal that is part of an oevre that has been widely cited Shenggen Fan, Peter Hazel and T. Haque (2000a) present evidence that government investments in India now have greater effects on poverty in rainfed than irrigated regions. This note suggests that parts of the methodology on which this claim is based are unclear and possibly suffer from an ecological fallacy. Even after clarification of their method by the authors, some doubts remain as to whether the results quoted support the original claim.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this articles: Technological Change in China Conroy, Richard Agriculture and Trade in the Pacific: toward the twenty‐first century William T. Coyle, Dermot Hayes and Hiroshi Yamauchi (eds) Australia's Business Challenge: Southeast Asia in the 1990s Agricultural Research in China: its institutional development and impact , Shenggen Fan and Philip G. Pardey Labor and Economic Growth in Five Asian Countries: South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines , Walter Galenson Informal Finance: some findings from Asia Prabhu Ghate et al. The Agrarian Origins of Commerce and Industry: a study of peasant marketing in Indonesia Yujiro Hayami and Toshihiko Kawagoe Chinese Enterprise Management: reforms in economic perspective Sukhan Jackson The Challenge of Reform in Indochina Bøje Ljunggren (ed.) Resources and Environment in Asia's Marine Sector James Barney Marsh (ed.) The Population of Modern China Dudley L. Poston Jr and David Yaukey (eds) Employment generation through private entrepreneurship in Vietnam Per Ronnås Development Planning in Asia Somsak Tambunlertchai and S. P. Gupta (eds) Race to the Swift: state and finance in Korean industrialization Jung‐en Woo Indonesia: health planning and budgeting

Interprovincial Disparities in China: Output and Consumption, 1952-1987

The flood of economic information from China in recent years has permitted reassessment of the "Chinese model of development" and the extent to which China's own development experience has conformed to it. The prevailing consensus of the 1970s concerning the substance of the model itself-typically characterized in terms of the Chinese leadership's objectives and priorities and its strategy for pursuing them-has stood up quite well. The same cannot be said about past appraisals of the extent to which China's economic reality has been reshaped to accord with the model's prescriptions. One of the most widely remarked elements of the Chinese model is the high priority assigned to regional objectives and, more specifically, to "balance" in the distribution of productive capacity and equity in the distribution of income and, hence, consumption. During the Maoist era (i.e., prior to 1979), the central government pursued regional objectives through such measures as interregional transfers of investment resources (effected via the planning system), subsidization of health and education expenditures in poor regions, and attempts to maintain a safety net of state relief (effected largely via control of grain surpluses). In short, there is little doubt that prior to 1979 the Chinese leadership placed an unusually high value on the spread of modern growth and the improvements in welfare associated with it and persistently acted to limit the emergence or widening of interregional disparities.' Although China's post-Mao leaders have shown greater concern with efficiency and with the potential trade-offs between efficiency and such goals as balance and equity, their continuation of many redistributive policies indicates that they have not abandoned regional objectives. But how successful has China been in achieving these objectives?

Will Developing Country Nutrition Improve with Income? A Case Study for Rural South India

Aggregate estimates of food expenditure are consistent with such a possibility, implying income/expenditure elasticities close to one. However, the high degree of aggregation at which such estimates are made means that the considerable increase in price per nutrient as income increases is ignored, and the nutrient elasticities are therefore overstated. Estimates for a rural south Indian sample indicate that this bias is considerable and that the true nutrient elasticities with respect to income may be close to zero.