MSU Agricultural Economics  People > Faculty > Jin

Songqing Jin

Assistant Professor

Phone: 517 353-4522
FAX: 517 432-1800 
Email: jins@msu.edu 
Office: 213E Agriculture Hall

Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 2004
M.S., Rutgers University, 1997
M.S., Zhejiang University (China), 1991
B.S., Zhejiang University (China), 1988
Songqing Jin joined the faculty at the Michigan State University in August 2007. His research interests are in the areas of microeconomics of international agricultural development. The main part of his research has been focused on rural land tenure issues in developing countries. In his research, he applies microeconomics and econometric to evaluate the impact of land access, land markets and secure land tenure on household’s investment, agricultural productivity and welfare with focus on the poor households, and to identify policy, legal and institutional changes necessary to enhance land tenure security and households’ ability in acquiring land access. His current research on this topic is to utilize household level data to assess the long-term effects of India’s land reform and to identify factors in the policy environment that could help to sustain the gains from the reform in the context of a rapidly changing economic environment. His dissertation work developed methods to evaluate the contribution of research investment and new technology to agriculture total factor productivity, and the efficiency nature of China’s agricultural research system. His recent and current research also concerns other development issues such as rural non-farm development, rural labor migration, and economics of gender inequality. He has conducted fieldwork and other research activities in East Asia, South Asia and Africa during the past several years. Before coming to MSU, he was an economist in the rural development research unit of the World Bank.

Professional Interests

  • Land tenure, institutional change, and the emergence and functioning of markets
  • Evaluation of agricultural technology and agricultural research systems
  • Emergence and evolution of the rural non-farm economy, rural labor markets and migration
  • Gender inequality in informal labor markets, political positions, and human capital investments.

Selected Publications

    “Securing Property Rights in Transition: Lessons from Implementation of China’s Rural Land Contracting Law” (with K. Deininger), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (forthcoming).

    “Impacts of Land Reform on Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth, Evidence from India” (with K. Deininger and H. Nagarajan). Journal of Development Studies (forthcoming).

    “Equity and Efficiency Impacts of Rural Land Rental Restrictions: Evidence from India” (with K. Deininger and H. Nagarajan). European Economic Review (forthcoming).

    “Land Sales and Rental Markets in Transition: Evidence from Rural Vietnam,” (with K. Deininger). Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics (forthcoming).

    “Sri Lanka’s rural non-farm economy: Removing constraints to pro-poor growth” (with K. Deininger and M. Sur). World Development 35(December 2007):2056-2078.

    “Risk Coping and Starvation in Rural China,” (with K. Deininger and X. Yu). Applied Economics 39(June 2007):1341-1352.

    “Tenure Security and Land-Related Investment: Evidence from Ethiopia,” (with K. Deininger). European Economic Review 50(July 2006):1245-1277.

    “Economies of Scale and Scope, and the Economic Efficiency of China’s Agricultural Research System,” (with S. Rozelle, J. Alston, J. Huang). International Economic Review 46(August 2005): 1033-57.

    “The Potential of Land Rental Markets in the Process of Economic Development: Evidence from China,” (with K. Deininger). Journal of Development Economics 78(October 2005):241-270.

    “The Impact of Property Rights on Investment, Risk Coping, and Policy Preferences: Evidence from China,” (with K. Deininger). Economic Development and Cultural Changes 51(July 2003):851-882.

    “The Creation and Spread of Technology and Total Factor Productivity in Chinese Agriculture,” (with J. Huang, R. Hu and S. Rozelle). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 84(Nov 2002):916-930.