The Political Economy of Rural Livelihoods in Transition Economies

Land, Peasants and Rural Poverty in Transition

Max Spoor editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:15th Apr '10

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The Political Economy of Rural Livelihoods in Transition Economies cover

Rural poverty is a phenomenon that is widespread yet often ignored by policy makers and researchers. This edited volume looks critically at rural poverty in Central Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, China and Vietnam in relation to land reform, farm restructuring and the development of rural markets and in the context of a large gap between rural and urban incomes and deteriorating rural social services and infrastructure. Although in most countries rural poverty has been decreasing in the past few years, economic growth in rural areas is slow, and rural incomes are not ‘catching up’ with the rapid overall growth rates of these transition economies. In general, the livelihoods of rural dwellers remain relatively poor.

Next to comparative studies, the chapters in this book explore various aspects of agrarian reform, and analyze the interlocking or interlinking (land, input and output) markets that are crucial for rural development that have often remained weakly developed in transition economies, including case studies from Russia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Vietnam and China and a wealth of detailed analysis. These chapters reflect the striking differences between transition countries in their processes of rural reform and development of rural poverty. These differences are generally dependent on the initial conditions at the eve of transition, the policies implemented, the sequencing of reforms, and the importance that was given to the sector in the overall development strategy, such as can be seen if the Asian transition economies (ATEs) are compared with many of those in Eastern Europe.

'A serious attempt to evaluate critically the progress up till now of land reform in the transition countries. Particularly valuable are the attention to rural poverty, the wide range of countries covered, the case studies of countries such as Moldova, Russia and Vietnam, and the detailed studies of particular issues (eg cotton production in Central Asia, and the relationship between private property rights and investment in Chinese agriculture). An important contribution to studies of transition, development, poverty alleviation, agricultural economics, and the countries concerned.' Michael Ellman (Amsterdam University, the Netherlands)

ISBN: 9780415588782

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 530g

282 pages