Market integration and economic development
Subtitle: a long-run comparison
By: Wolfgang Keller, Carol H. Shiue.
Contributors: Edwards, Sebastian, 1953-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 10300; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 10300.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Rice trade -- China -- History.
Description: "How much of China's recent economic performance can be attributed to market-oriented reforms introduced in the last two decades? A long-run perspective may be important for understanding the process of economic development occurring today.  This paper compares the integration of rice markets in China today and 270 years ago.  In the 18th century, transport technology was non-mechanized, but markets were close to being free markets.  We distinguish local harvest and weather from aggregate sources of price variation in a historical sample and in a similarly constructed contemporary sample.  Findings indicate the degree of market integration in the 1720s is a very good predictor of per capita income in the 1990s.  Moreover, the current pattern of interregional income in China is strongly linked to persistent geographic factors that were already apparent several centuries ago, well before the enactment of modern reform programs"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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