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Price Scissors and the Structure of The Economy

Raaj Kumar Sah1; Joseph E. Stiglitz2

1 Yale University · 2 Princeton University

Quarterly Journal of Economics 1987 open access

This paper undertakes three sets of tasks: (i) it analyzes positive and normative aspects of price scissors (the domestic terms of trade between agriculture and industry) within nonsocialist as well as socialist LDCs. The critical role of the economy's institutional features (e.g., external trade environment, wage and income determination, and wage-productivity effects) is emphasized. Certain aspects of the Soviet Industrialization Debate and subsequent collectivization are interpreted, (ii) It develops simple rules to delineate who gains and who loses (within agriculture) from changes in terms of trade, (iii) It presents powerful (and informationally parsimonious) rules for Pareto-improving price reforms for cash crops and agricultural inputs.

DOI
10.2307/1884683
Volume
102 (1)
Pages
109
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