Agricultural Economics: Farm Household Agriculture and Agricultural Development (Second Edition)

Author: (English) Ellis, translated by Hu Jingbei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The issue of farmers is one of the most important problems in China today. When observing the lives, production, attitudes towards the outside world, and expectations for their future of farmers, we need theoretical tools—just as we need theoretical tools to observe our heartbeat or the rising and setting of the sun. Ellis's Farming Economics: Farm Household Agriculture and Agricultural Development is an introductory book that provides readers with theoretical tools for farming research. One feature of Farming Economics: Farm Household Agriculture and Agricultural Development is its simplicity and clarity, avoiding complex and dry language or difficult mathematical derivations. The book primarily uses text to explain concepts, supplemented by charts and simple mathematical formulas, but it is well-structured, logically clear, and easy to understand. Therefore, it is not only suitable for teaching needs in economics, agricultural economics, and development economics but also very accessible to readers in other social sciences disciplines and those generally concerned about the status of farmers. The second feature is its systematic introduction to the main theories of farming economics research, including profit-seeking farmers, risk-averse farmers, labor-averse farmers, partially market-participating farmers, and sharecropping farmers. When introducing these theories, the book adopts the same structure, systematically explaining the assumptions, reasoning, conclusions, and policy implications of each theory, making it clear to readers at a glance. The third feature is the extensive introduction of Marxist research on farmers. Based on a concentrated exposition of the essence of Marxist economics, it offers Marxist perspectives on various theories and main issues in farming economics. The fourth feature is a comparison of the research on farmer issues by neoclassical economics and Marxist economics, clearly showing the similarities and differences between these two major theoretical systems to readers. Since its publication, the book has been a fundamental textbook and reference work for farming economics internationally and has been praised as "an important contribution to the economic analysis of farm household production" (Journal of Agricultural Economics).