Getting food prices right: the state versus the market in reforming China, 1979–2006

This article examines the Chinese state's food-market-rebuilding policies during its gradual reforms (1979–2006). To this end, we analyse government policies regarding food pricing, subsidies and procurement funds, and construct a policy implementation data set. Our findings indicate that fluctuations in China's food output were unidirectionally caused by the “visible hand” of China's reformist state, which aimed to guide the economy away from an administration-planned economy towards a price-based market system.