PRODUCTIVITY CONSEQUENCES OF ALTERNATIVE LAND DIVISION METHODS IN CHINA DECOLLECTIVIZATION - AN ECONOMETRIC-ANALYSIS

In this paper we examine the productivity effect of the manner of dist ributing collective land to households under the Chinese economic refo rms of the 1980s. During that period, land was distributed by a formul a putting weight on both household size and household labor force, and land and labor markets were absent or underdeveloped in most regions. A simple model of household decision-making is developed for this cas e, and a basic result is that agricultural output is concave in the pr oportion of land distributed according to workforce as opposed to hous ehold size. This hypothesis is tested on data for 61 production teams of a township (formerly commune) in Hebei province. Under a quadratic specification, grain output displays the expected concave relationship with the land distribution parameter. Our results provide some eviden ce of congruence between equality in the distribution of resources, an d incentives for productivity.