Farmer Theory: Applied to Asian agriculture and Taiwanese land..: Applied to Asian agriculture and Taiwanese land

Author: Zhang Wu Chang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-08-01
Features: The book "The Economics of the Agrarian Household" has two distinctive features: First, its enduring relevance: 30 years after its publication, the book and its articles were cited approximately 20 times annually; second, many scholars regard it as the originator of the widely discussed contract theory. Second: As a classic, the book's slow sales may have broken a world record – in 1969, 1,000 copies were printed, and university libraries worldwide automatically ordered 500 copies, while the author's friends and students purchased about 300 copies. After a quarter of a century (by 1995), only about 200 copies had been sold through the market!!! "The Economics of the Agrarian Household" won the University of Chicago's Political Economy Award in 1967. Zhang Wu Chang's "The Economics of the Agrarian Household" is the cornerstone of modern contract economics. Today, the value of "The Economics of the Agrarian Household" has grown increasingly significant with time. It not only became the cornerstone of modern contract economics but also some of its articles, after being published in journals, became classics of modern new institutional economics. For example, in the classic collection of economic theory articles published by Edward Elgar, "The Economics of Transaction Costs," two of the most influential and representative 40 articles selected from the school include main chapters from "The Economics of the Agrarian Household." The book primarily offers a new interpretation of the sharecropping system from the perspective of modern new institutional economics, overturning traditional theories and establishing the "new agrarian household theory." The essence of its theory is that, through changes in certain factors, the efficiency of land use remains the same, whether in sharecropping, fixed-rent systems, or landlord self-cultivation. If property rights are weakened or if the government excessively intervenes in resource allocation, it will lead to inefficient resource allocation. If land can be designated as private property, with clear property rights and the freedom to transfer land, this is the surest way to maximize the efficiency of production factors and land. In this book, Zhang Wu Chang deeply studies the nature of contracts under market economy conditions and the relationship with transaction costs. Research in modern contract economics has permeated all fields of economic study and has become one of the most popular topics in modern economics, largely due to Zhang Wu Chang's "The Economics of the Agrarian Household." Additionally, the book is not only theoretically innovative and profound but also beautifully written and well-formatted, making it a model or exemplary text for many economics students in writing. It has a broad market in the English-speaking world. This book is translated from the original English version.