THE ROLE OF DECOLLECTIVISATION IN CHINA AGRICULTURAL MIRACLE, 1978-90

Chinese agricultural performance after 1978 was impressive; most writers have attributed its success to the abolition of collective farms. This article rejects the hypothesis because it neglects the positive role played by relative price changes and increased supplies of farm inputs in the 1980s. The hypothesis also wrongly suggests that voluntary co-operation has provided an effective substitute for the Maoist collective in crucial off-farm activities such as rural industrialisation and infrastructure construction. Finally, at an empirical level, provincial-level trends in the early 1980s offer little comfort to advocates of private farming.