Resource information
Abstract:
"This paper looks at the case of Myanmar in order to investigate the behavior and welfare of
rural households in an economy under transition from a planned to a market system. Myanmar's
case is particularly interesting because of the country's unique attempt to preserve a policy of
intervention in land transactions and marketing institutions. A sample household survey that we
conducted in 2001, covering more than 500 households in eight villages with diverse
agro-ecological environments, revealed two paradoxes. First, income levels are higher in
villages far from the center than in villages located in regions under the tight control of the
central authorities. Second, farmers and villages that emphasize a paddy-based, irrigated
cropping system have lower farming incomes than those that do not. The reason for these
paradoxes are the distortions created by agricultural policies that restrict land use and the
marketing of agricultural produce. Because of these distortions, the transition to a market
economy in Myanmar since the late 1980s is only a partial one. The partial transition, which
initially led to an increase in output and income from agriculture, revealed its limit in the survey
period."...There are 2 versions of this paper. The one placed as the main URL, which also has a later publication date, seems to be longer, though it is about 30K smaller.
