Summary of Joe Studwell's How Asia Works

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In a country in the early stages of development, typically 75 percent of the population is employed in agriculture. The problem with agriculture in pre-industrial states with rising populations is that when market forces are left to themselves, agricultural yields tend to stagnate or even fall.

#2 The question of efficiency depends on what outcome you are looking for. Big capitalist farms may produce the highest return on cash invested, but that is not the agricultural efficiency that is appropriate to a developing state.

#3 The world of the home fruit and vegetable gardener is very familiar to the post-war east Asian peasant family with its mini-farm. The labor-intensive gardening approach to cultivation gets more out of a given plot of land than anything else.

#4 The problem is that the gardening level of output needs so much labor. If Mr. Doiron gardened full time, he might be able to maintain his yields for 1,000 square meters of land. But that would still require ten Mr. Doirons to earn $135,000 across one hectare before costs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822535688

IRB Media

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Insights on Joe Studwell's How Asia Works

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In a country in the early stages of development, typically 75 percent of the population is employed in agriculture. The problem with agriculture in pre-industrial states with rising populations is that when market forces are left to themselves, agricultural yields tend to stagnate or even fall.

#2

The question of efficiency depends on what outcome you are looking for. Big capitalist farms may produce the highest return on cash invested, but that is not the agricultural efficiency that is appropriate to a developing state.

#3

The world of the home fruit and vegetable gardener is very familiar to the post-war east Asian peasant family with its mini-farm. The labor-intensive gardening approach to cultivation gets more out of a given plot of land than anything else.

#4

The problem is that the gardening level of output needs so much labor. If Mr. Doiron gardened full time, he might be able to maintain his yields for 1,000 square meters of land. But that would still require ten Mr. Doirons to earn $135,000 across one hectare before costs.

#5

The arguments about the efficiency of small-scale farms are not without their complexities. The high yields achieved in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China are not simply the result of farm size, but of farm size combined with complicated infrastructures that have been set up to deliver inputs like fertilizers and seeds.

#6

Agricultural output is typically represented as important by economists because it leads to increased surplus, which can then be used to finance industrial investment. However, big yield gains also mean big increases in rural consumption, which may be even more important when farmers create demand for consumer goods.

#7

Land distribution in poor countries is a strong predictor of future economic performance. Only one developing country has managed a long-term growth rate of over 2. 5 percent with a very unequal distribution of land, and that country is Brazil.

#8

The most advanced ancient Asian states used reformed land systems more than a thousand years ago. The process began with the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the formation of a progressive Japanese government in 1868. Land was given to small farmers, who were then incentivized to invest in their land.

#9

The central government hired American specialists to introduce new farming techniques, and supported the construction of a national network of training services called extension. The spread of fertiliser use and higher-yield rice varieties was a driver of output growth.

#10

The rural reforms of the Meiji government were limited in their scope. While the more feudal, absentee, large-scale landlord was swept away, small farmers were given private title, but within farming communities considerable variation in landholding remained.

#11

Land tenure in Japan was changed after the Meiji government instituted its land reform, and it was not until the 1930s that agriculture began to recover. The Japanese military took on the role of