Following market reforms three decades ago, China's agricultural policy has undergone a fundamental transformation and now involves a wide array of policy instruments that range from output and input subsidies to public infrastructure expenditures. Chinese agricultural policies underwent a fundamental shift from farm taxation, typical of developing countries, to farm subsidies and direct payments more typical of developed countries. i Because the People's Republic of China is the world's largest importer, producer, and consumer of agricultural products, its policy changes have significant impact on world markets, including developing countries that rely on agricultural trade for export revenues or on imports of agricultural staples to ensure food security. This highlights the need to better understand the drivers of policy changes in China. After its establishment in 1949, the new Chinese regime adopted a Soviet-style, heavy industry-oriented development strategy as its main economic objective. Until 1978, agricultural production was organized into cooperatives and people's communes, a form of supracooperative (Lin, 1990; Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee of China, 2011), with the government generally procuring commodities at below-market prices via state monopsonies to subsidize urban consumption and industrial development (Carter et al., 2002). As urban residents' incomes and industrial production subsequently increased, widespread urban food subsidies became less necessary amid increasing concerns about the widening gap between rural and urban incomes and insufficient investments in agriculture. These factors

We use a modified version of the stochastic frontier model to estimate oligopoly markups above the perfectly competitive frontier, separating out deterministic markups from purely stochastic markups. Using data from 42 US food processing industries between 1990 and 2010, empirical results indicate a widespread incidence of oligopoly power, with Lerner indexes averaging approximately 21%. Further, the estimated markups increase with industrial concentration but decrease with price elasticities and imports. Finally, the estimated Lerner indexes are in the range of previous food industry estimates using New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) models.

Purpose -Green building has become increasingly significant in China, with hundreds of projects being certified. While this has been the case, the driving and impeding factors behind this have remained unclear. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the green practices in China and to investigate the current status and the driving and impeding factors for green practices in the Chinese building industry. Design/methodology/approach -After a comprehensive review of the pertinent literature, this study first describes major environmental changes in China. Next, this study conducts an industry-wide survey, with 65 completed responses received that form the analysis of this research. Findings -The results of the survey showed that "to obtain countenance and incentives from the government" appears to be the dominant motivation for green practices. "High fabrication cost" in design and "cost control" in construction were considered to be the largest obstacles encountered. "Lack of application experience" seems to be the largest obstacle faced in certification. The respondents seem to disagree much on the advantages of green buildings over conventional ones. The study also found that "countenance and incentives from the government" were the most significant driving force behind the rapid expansion of the green building industry in China. Originality/value -A clearer understanding of the perceptions of industry practitioners would assist those in the green building industry to better appreciate their shortcomings and to inspire new ways of improving performance of the green building industry. Although the future of the green building sector in China is promising, this industry still faces significant obstacles in technologies relating to design, production and manufacturing as well as in "soft" skills relating to regulations, management and stimulation.

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on children’s behavior and their parents’ mental health in China. MethodsA total of 30861 children’s parents were selected from throughout China to complete the self-made Child behavior Questionnaire and Child Parents Mental Health Questionnaire. ResultsThe results showed that there were significant differences in children’s behavior scores in variables such as age, whether or not an only child and place of residence; There were significant differences in physical, emotional and cognitive scores of parents in variables such as gender, age, education, occupation, place of residence, whether there are medical staff in family, the relationship with children, and children’s age. The correlation analysis showed that children’s behavior and parents’ physical, emotion and cognition were significantly correlated with epidemic-related factors. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis showed that epidemic-related factors can significantly predict children’s behavior and parents’ physical, emotion, and cognition. ConclusionsThese results can provide theoretical basis for the behavior management of children at home and the psychological adjustment of parents during the epidemic.

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