Corruption is one of the most pervasive obstacles to economic and social development. However, in the existing literature it appears that corruption seems to be less harmful in some countries than in others. The most striking examples are well known as the "East Asian paradox": countries displaying exceptional growth records despite having thriving corruption cultures. The aim of this paper is to explain the high corruption but fast economic growth puzzle in China by providing …rm-level evidence of the relation between corruption and growth and investigating how …nancial development in ‡uences the former relationship. Our empirical results show that corruption is likely to contribute to …rms' growth. We further highlight the substitution relationship between corruption and …nancial development on …rm growth. This means that corruption appears not to be a vital constraint on …rm growth if …nancial markets are underdeveloped. However, pervasive corruption deters …rm growth where there are more developed …nancial markets. This implies that fast …rm growth will not be observed until a later stage of China's development when …nancial markets are well-functioning and corruption is under control. Furthermore, the substitution relationship exists in the private and state-owned …rms. Geographically, similar results can be seen in the Southeast and Central regions.

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Cadmium accumulation in crops presents a potential risk to human health. To understand the difference between dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous species in respect of Cd accumulation, and to develop fertilizer management practices to minimise Cd uptake, a growth chamber study was conducted to evaluate the interactive effects of Cd concentration in phosphate and Zn fertilizer on Cd uptake in flax (Linum usitatissimum L) and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L). Cadmium concentration was higher in flax than durum wheat shoots. Cadmium concentration was lower and Zn concentration higher in the flax seed and durum wheat grain than in the root, shoot or straw of both species. These results suggest that flax has comparatively ineffective barriers discriminating against the transport of Cd from the root to the shoot via the xylem, and that both crops may restrict Cd translocation to the seed/grain via the phloem. Commercial grade monoammonium phosphate (NH 4 H 2 PO 4 ) or triple superphosphate (Ca(H 2 PO 4 ) 2 ) produced higher seed Cd concentrations than did reagent grade P in flax but not in durum wheat. Application of P significantly decreased seed/grain Zn concentration and increased seed/grain Cd concentration. Zinc addition at 20 mg Zn kg −1 soil with P decreased seed/grain Cd concentration (average 42.2% for flax, 65.4% for durum wheat), Cd accumulation (average 37.2% for flax, 62.4% for durum wheat) and Cd translocation to the seed/grain (average 20.0% for flax, 34.5% for durum wheat) in both crops. These results indicate that there is an antagonistic effect of Zn on Cd for root uptake and distribution within the plant.

Soil phosphate (PO4–P) sorption and release is affected by reactions at the solution–soil surface interface. The objective of this study was to determine how the net negative surface charge and phosphate adsorption/desorption processes in a sandy‐loam soil were affected by cattle manure and inorganic fertilizer applications. The soil came from a field experiment where manure and triple superphosphate (TSP) were applied annually on an equivalent plant‐available P basis. After 4 yr, manured soils had 37% more negative surface charge in soil suspensions from pH 4 to 7 than TSP‐fertilized soils. Phosphate adsorption was 23% lower in soils receiving manure than TSP. The phosphate adsorption data (adsorption of added phosphate + native adsorbed phosphate) was modeled with the Langmuir 2‐surface equation, which revealed that the binding strength for phosphate, including native adsorbed phosphate, was about 50% less in the manured soils than the TSP‐fertilized soils. These results suggest that manure applications that increase the net negative surface charge also reduce the soil phosphate adsorption capacity. The cumulative desorbed phosphate was twofold greater from manured soils than TSP‐fertilized soils. This confirmed the results from phosphate adsorption isotherms showing that phosphate was weakly bound in manured soils, compared with TSP‐fertilized soils. We found that manuring not only decreased phosphate retention by the soil but also increased phosphate release into the soil solution, and thus may lead to greater transport of phosphate from agricultural land to waterways.

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high water table was set in the Netherlands (Breeuwsma et al., 1995). Agricultural practices such as tillage, crop-Nitrogen and P leaching from agricultural land to ground water ping systems, and fertilizer applications influence soil poses a threat to water quality, but it may be possible to control nutrient concentrations and drainage rates, leading us dissolved nutrient leaching by choosing appropriate management practices. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of to believe that it may be possible to control NO 3-N and agricultural practices on dissolved N and dissolved P leaching from dissolved reactive P leaching from agricultural soils by topsoil to subsurface soil after crop harvest. Intact soil cores and small choosing appropriate management practices. disturbed soil columns were collected from a factorial (tillage ϫ crop ϫ Tillage has a twofold effect on nutrient leaching: first, fertilizer source) field experiment, 3 yr after the treatments were on soil nutrient concentrations and second, on water established. Soils were leached with synthetic rainwater in the laboraflow patterns. In general, tillage is expected to hasten tory and nutrient loads (kg ha Ϫ1) were calculated. Dissolved N and decomposition of residues, resulting in more N mineraldissolved P loads were not affected by tillage and were similar followization and nitrification. Thus, more NO 3-N loss is exing corn (Zea mays L.) (in a continuous corn rotation) and soybean pected in plowed than no-till soils (Power et al., 2001). [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.] (in a soybean/corn rotation) production. Soils Kanwar and Baker (1993) found greater NO 3-N concenreceiving inorganic fertilizer had a 70% greater nitrate (NO 3-N) load and 48% less dissolved reactive P than soils receiving organic fertilizer, trations in the 1.5-m depth of plowed than no-till soils. suggesting that fertilizing soils with a combination of inorganic and Yet, Eisenhauer et al. (1993) found that greater percolaorganic fertilizers might be a good way to reduce both NO 3-N and tion of water through no-till than plowed soils led to dissolved reactive P transport to water systems. The NO 3-N load inmore NO 3-N movement in the soil profile. Other recreased as the soil NO 3-N concentration increased (R 2 ϭ 0.36) while the searchers have found no consistent effects of tillage on dissolved reactive P load was positively related to the soil Mehlich-3

The use of savings products to promote financial inclusion has increasingly become a policy priority across sub-Saharan Africa, yet little is known about how families respond to varying levels of savings incentives and whether the promotion of incentivized savings in low-resource settings may encourage households to restrict expenditures on basic needs. Using data from a randomized controlled trial in Uganda, we examine: 1) whether low-income households enrolled in an economic-empowerment intervention consisting of matched savings, workshops, and mentorship reduced spending on basic needs and 2) how varied levels of matching contributions affected household savings and consumption behavior. We compared primary school-attending AIDS-affected children (N = 1,383) randomized to a control condition with two intervention arms with differing savings-match incentives: 1:1 (Bridges) and 1:2 (Bridges PLUS). We found that: 1) 24 months post-intervention initiation, children in Bridges and Bridges PLUS were more likely to have accumulated savings than children in the control condition; 2) higher match incentives (Bridges PLUS) led to higher deposit frequency but not higher savings in the bank; 3) intervention participation did not result in material hardship; and 4) in both intervention arms, participating families were more likely to start a family business and diversify their assets.

The objective of our study is to identify patterns and causes of households' transitions into and out of poverty using the long household panel data on rural China in 1989-2009. We propose a discrete-time multi-spell duration model that not only corrects for unobserved heterogeneity, but also addresses the endogeneity due to dynamic selection associated with household's livelihood strategies. The household choosing farming or out-migration as a main livelihood strategy was more likely to escape from persistent poverty than those taking local non-agricultural employment. The present study emphasizes the central role of agriculture in helping the chronically poor escape from poverty.