Francis C. Tuan

China's New Farm Subsidies

In 2004, China entered a new era in its approach to agricultural policy, as it began to subsidize rather than tax agriculture. China introduced direct subsidies to farmers, began to phase out its centuries-old agricultural tax, subsidized seed and machinery purchases, and increased spending on rural infrastructure. The new policies reflect China’s new view of agriculture as a sector needing a helping hand. The subsidies are targeted at grain producers, but they do not provide strong incentives to increase grain production.

Rural Chinese Food Consumption: The Case of Guangdong

Chinese consumer behavior is analyzed based on rural Guangdong household survey data. For most food items, own-price elasticities estimated with an AIDS model are inelastic. Commodity substitution due to relative price changes is small, except in the case of grain. Commodities most responsive to expenditure changes are meats, poultry, fruits, sweets, and durable goods.

Do China's agricultural policies matter for world commodity markets?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify the implications of Chinas recently adopted agricultural policies on domestic and international commodity markets. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic, quantitative analysis is applied to address whether Chinas recent trade and production policies distort Chinas domestic and international commodity markets. The paper provides a clear picture of how trade-restricting policies affect markets using a 42-country partial equilibrium global dynamic agricultural simulation model. Findings – The paper shows that recent agricultural policy reforms increase Chinas production slightly, causing imports to decrease while exports decline because of input subsidies, export taxes and the reduction of export value added tax rebates. Domestic prices to consumers decrease in real terms. The effects on world markets are small as the set of policies adopted partially offset each other in the international arena. Research limitations/implications – The paper indicates that the adoption of the policy reforms lower price levels domestically and benefit lower income urban and rural households, whose diets are largely based on rice and wheat as staple foods. Future model enhancements should include measures of producer and consumer welfare in order to capture the total impacts of policies and policy changes in China. Originality/value – The paper quantifies the potential implications of the recent agricultural policy reforms in China. This contributes to the investigation of the effects of these policies implemented by the Chinese Government to achieve the countrys policy objectives. Owing to the dynamics of Chinas policy implementation an in-depth analysis sheds light and contributes to capturing the impacts of policy reforms on the domestic and international markets.

U.S.-China Agricultural Trade: Constraints And Potential

Chinas agricultural trade expanded rapidly following economic reforms and the open-door policy adopted in the late 1970s. The composition of agricultural trade with China follows its labor-abundant and land-scarce resource endowment with imports of bulk and processed intermediates and exports of consumer-ready and processed goods. Constraints on U.S.-China agricultural trade include tariffs, state trading, food security policies, and other nontariff barriers. Growth potential is based on Chinas fundamental demand forces including the worlds largest population, a high real-income growth rate, an emerging urban middle class, and further trade reforms to be implemented through accession to the World Trade Organization.

China's role in world cotton and textile markets: a joint computable general equilibrium/partial equilibrium approach

Under the Uruguay Rounds Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), the quotas inherited from the Multifibre Arrangement were gradually phased-out between January 1995 and 31 December 2004. This study estimates the impact of the ATCs implementation on Chinas textile industry and Chinas cotton sector. The study finds that, assuming equilibrium levels of income and exchange rates, the adoption of ATC are expected to increase Chinas net apparel exports, textile production, cotton consumption, cotton production and cotton imports. However, this study fails to support the hypothesis that the adoption of the ATC results in China supplanting the textile industries of the rest of the developing world. The impacts on cotton are also smaller than indicated by previous studies. These outcomes are somewhat sensitive to estimates of expected efficiency gains around the world.

The Impacts of WTO Membership on Economic/Trade Relations Among the Three Chinese Economies: China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Based on CGE model simulations, the present study examines the impacts on the growth of GDP, social welfare, the terms of trade, the volume of trade and trade dependence, under alternative scenarios of a WTO with and without the membership of China and Taiwan. In general, the three Chinese economies, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, will be benefited by China and Taiwan’s WTO memberships. The world trade will increase by more than

Chinese domestic textile demand: where they buy does matter

130 billions in real terms (

Assessing China’s Long Term Export and Income Growth in the Global Markets

63.6 billions of exports and

Agriculture and TPP with or without China: a partial equilibrium analysis

66.5 billions of imports). Among them, more than 60 percent will be shared by China, and 10 percent shared by Taiwan. The intermediate role of Hong Kong in trade and investment relations across the Taiwan Strait will diminish, Taiwan’s trade dependence on China will increase, but China’s trade dependence on Taiwan will decrease. However, trade flows across the Taiwan Strait will focus more on intra-industry trade.

China's Ongoing Agricultural Modernization: Challenges Remain After 30 Years of Reform

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of distribution channels on demand for apparel, home textiles, and other textiles (including shoes) in urban China. Design/methodology/approach – The estimation procedure used in this study is implemented in three steps: first, the price/unit value information is estimated; second, the parameters for a set of demand systems are estimated; and third, the J-test and likelihood ratio testing are used to determine the most suitable model for the data set. Findings – The results indicate that households spend more on apparel than home textiles and other textile products if they purchase textile products from small stores. It also indicates that they would spend more on home textiles and other textiles if they purchase from chain stores and supermarkets. Originality/value – The estimation of Chinese textile consumption presents a significant challenge to both academic researchers and industry, due to Chinas large population, income inequality, different consumption channels, and other related issues. First, the results presented in the paper provide a clear indication for textile producers, exporters, and others to choose their distribution channels to target specific customers; second, the disaggregated textile expenditure and price elasticity estimates from this article can be used in various analytical procedures (i.e. simulation models) to evaluate the welfare effects of domestic policies and international trade policies. Quantification of the welfare impacts of domestic policies and international trade policies would be more meaningful if disaggregate textile elasticity estimates are used in simulation models.