Peasant Cooperation and Agricultural Growth in Historical Perspective: Southeastern Shanxi in the 1950s. (September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gao, Yuan
• Is Part Of: Modern China. Volume 45:Number 5(2019:Sep.)
• Page Start: 537
• Page End: 563
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Subjects: peasant cooperation -- mutual aid teams -- co-op -- input mismatch -- allocation efficiency -- technological diffusion -- work incentives -- the 1950s -- southeastern Shanxi; China -- Periodicals; Chine; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 951.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0097700418812105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0097-7004

Abstract

Historical evidence suggests that peasant cooperation in the form of mutual aid teams and co-ops contributed to agricultural growth in southeastern Shanxi before 1958. Well-managed mutual aid teams and co-ops could improve the efficiency of input allocation, help to increase the use of traditional inputs, and accelerate the diffusion of output-enhancing technologies. The case of the Guo Yu'en co-op in Chuandi village illustrates how institutions providing sufficient work incentives could emerge in rural communities. By linking the southeastern Shanxi story to national trends of agrarian change in the 1950s, this article emphasizes that cooperativization before the Great Leap Forward generated heterogeneous effects across different regions and cannot be indiscriminately labeled as inefficient.