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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 101 No. 3 1993

Monitoring Costs in Chinese Agricultural Teams

Xiao-yuan Dong; Gregory K. Dow

Abstract

Large productivity gains have been observed in Chinese agriculture following the transition from collective farming to household contracting. Using a model of mutual monitoring in an egalitarian production team, we estimate that labor supervision absorbed about 10-20 percent of total labor time for a sample of Chinese agricultural teams during 1970-76. These agency costs are lower than comparable estimates derived from aggregate data.

DOI
10.1086/261886
Volume
101
Issue
3
Pages
539-553
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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