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Conflicts, Calamities And Nutritional Poverty Traps In A Peasant Economy: Evidence From Rural China 1929–1933

Author

Listed:
  • LI ZHOU

    (College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, P. R. China)

  • JIE SUN

    (College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, P. R. China)

  • CALUM GREIG TURVEY

    (��Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA)

Abstract

This paper uses data compiled by John Lossing Buck from his rural China survey conducted between 1929 and 1933 to analyze the impact of weather calamities and conflict on agricultural productivity, farm wages and nutrition intake. Our results support the conditions required for a Nutritional Poverty Trap (NPT) to be present, while anecdotal evidence points to the potential presence of a nutritional poverty trap for large segments of China’s agricultural economy. We find a lagged effect of climate shock on nutrition, but find no evidence that the many conflicts of the day affected nutrition. This is more likely due to the avoidance of conflict zones by surveyors, but may also support the notion that the effects from conflicts were local and short-lived due to the resilience of farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Zhou & Jie Sun & Calum Greig Turvey, 2023. "Conflicts, Calamities And Nutritional Poverty Traps In A Peasant Economy: Evidence From Rural China 1929–1933," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(03), pages 729-759, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:68:y:2023:i:03:n:s0217590819500280
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590819500280
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nutrition; nutritional poverty trap; food policy; poverty; agricultural productivity; disaster;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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