Christopher G. Locke

Wholesale Food Markets with Chinese Characteristics

Abstract There has been a growing interest in the role of the Chinese wholesale food markets in agricultural development and the food distribution system. Despite this attention, very little is known about these institutions and the way that they operate. In this paper, some case studies are used to develop the profile of a number of important wholesale markets. After an overview of the conceptual role of these markets and how they are perceived by Chinese policy-makers, a survey is conducted of some of the leading markets in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai. It is argued that gaining a better understanding of these markets will be an important component of analysing the broader food circulation system and food demand and consumption patterns in China.

The Industrial Organization of the Chinese Food Economy: Socialistic or Capitalistic?

The controversy over the transformation of socialism recently has focused on China. The analysis here uses an industrial ORGANIZATION framework to portray the key features of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.” The structures of ownership, supply, and demand and the process of price formation are analyzed to explicate the ramifications of the reform process and the changing patterns of government intervention and market forces in the Chinese food economy. An examination of this. fusion reveals a number of implications for international socialism.

The Origins of the International Debt Crisis

Following the lacklustre performance of many developing countries over the last fifteen years, the problem of international debt is once again creeping back into the policy limelight. The achievements of structural adjustment and new lending programmes that have been at the heart of previous policy responses have been limited in terms of their ability to deliver new growth to debtor nations. Latin American countries are still heavily indebted to multilateral institutions with heavy debt burdens still threatening access to markets (World Bank 1995; Langfield 1995; and UNCTAD 1995). Similarly, some of the Asian “success stories” are once again becoming exposed to dangerously high levels of sovereign debt, especially to Japan (Ana and van Hees 1995). Such developments are naturally a renewed challenge to policy makers and to the accepted understandings of the causes of the crisis and its sustenance. It is postulated that analytical approaches that examine the issues surrounding new lending in the 1970s or, more commonly, the spate of defaults started by Mexico in 1982, are focusing attention on what is symptomatic, rather than on what is causal. By doing so, there is a danger that such analyses will provide a new inheritance of misinterpreted policy developments and limited future options.

Debt overhangs and international agricultural trade

Abstract Having been one of the dominant issues in North–South relations for over a decade, the debt crisis is once again gaining prominence in international policy debates. This study seeks to examine the impacts of debt overhangs on agricultural trade. Using a partial equilibrium trade model of seven agricultural commodities, covering 10 developed and 20 developing regions, where debt impacts on supply, demand, and income, a number of simulations were performed. The empirical results indicate that across-the-board debt relief, in exchange for policy reforms in debtor nations, would produce positive trade benefits for international agricultural trade and increase world welfare levels by around US

Famine Analysis: A Study of Entitlements in Sudan, 1984-1985

2 billion in real terms. With regard to the appropriate levels of largess, it is found that low levels of reduction (less than 20%) can have negative impacts on world trade, with some support being apparent for higher levels of write-off, in the order of 70–100% of base period debt stocks.