The successful agricultural reform carried out in China in the 1970s started encountering mounting difficulties from the mid-1980s, as growth rates dropped and prices increased sharply. This study analyzes the different reform measures introduced in China in the past twenty years, and provides a full analysis of the existing agricultural system. Through careful examination of the political economy and the different policy options, the author argues that China should push forward with its market-oriented reform measures and introduce the rigors of international competition into the...

Building a Modern Financial System provides a unique "inside" account of all aspects of the Indonesian financial system over the past three decades, indicating policies adopted, their effects, and the pressures that influenced policy choices. Indonesia provides an interesting example of financial modernization: it was considered a "hopeless case" in the mid 1960s, after which it maintained a balanced fiscal policy and largely unrestrained foreign capital movements up until the recent upheavals of the mid 1990s.

There is no worldwide food crisis. The authors of this volume show that the world food situation has improved dramatically over the past three decades: prices of agricultural commodities are at their lowest level in history in real terms and crop output is continuing to rise faster than population. This book provides a much needed and reasoned view on a subject that is too often treated emotionally. The important changes in the international food economy are considered in historical context and provide a basis for projections to 2010.