Agricultural productivity growth in China: farm level versus aggregate measurement

We measure agricultural productivity growth in China using alternative data sets: farm level data for Jiangsu province, national data, and provincial aggregate data for Jiangsu. For all three data sets, productivity growth was estimated to be strong during the immediate post-reform 1978-1987 period. According to the farm level data, productivity growth then slowed from 1988 to 1996. Alternatively, the national and provincial aggregate figures showed continued high productivity growth in the 1990s. These findings suggest that aggregate data may blur the true picture with regard to agricultural productivity growth in China. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.