American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
There Will Be Killing: Collectivization and Death of Draft Animals
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 9,
no. 4, October 2017
(pp. 58–77)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
The elimination of private property rights can lead to inefficient use of productive assets. In China's collectivization movement from 1955 to 1957, instead of transferring draft animals to the ownership of the collectives, peasants slaughtered them to keep the meat and hide. By comparing 1,600 counties that launched the movement in different years, the difference-in-differences estimates suggest that the animal loss during the movement was 12 to 15 percent, or 7.4-9.5 million head. Grain output dropped by 7 percent due to lower animal inputs and lower productivity.Citation
Chen, Shuo, and Xiaohuan Lan. 2017. "There Will Be Killing: Collectivization and Death of Draft Animals." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9 (4): 58–77. DOI: 10.1257/app.20160247Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- N45 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Asia including Middle East
- N55 Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: Asia including Middle East
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- P26 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Political Economy; Property Rights
- P32 Collectives; Communes; Agriculture
- Q11 Agriculture: Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
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