This paper provides evidence regarding gains to agricultural market liberalization in China. We empirically identify the different effects that incentive reforms and gradual market liberalization have on China's agricultural economy during its transition period. We find that average gains within the agricultural sector to incentive reform exceed gains to market liberalization by a factor of ten. Our method of analyzing the effects of transition policies on economic performance can be generalized to other reform paths in other transition economies.

This paper contributes to the assessment of China's rural labor markets, while paying attention to whether these markets are developing in a manner conducive to the nation's modernization. According to our household survey, we find that the rapid increase in off-farm activity; has become dominated by young and better educated workers; expanded most rapidly in areas that are relatively well-off; and begun to draw workers from portions of the population, such as women, that earlier had been excluded from participation.