Expert to speak on China rural, ag policy

A Stanford expert on rural and agricultural policies in China will speak at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln March 9.

Scott Rozelle, the Helen F. Farnsworth senior fellow, will speak at 3 p.m. in the auditorium at Hardin Hall, Holdrege and 33rd streets. The title of his presentation is "There is Exactly Enough Time Starting Now: Inequality, Poverty and Malnutrition and the Middle Income Trap in China."

Rozelle's talk is the annual Filley-Garey Lecture, funded by the family of H. Clyde Filley, first chairman of UNL's Department of Agricultural Economics.

Rozelle notes that despite recent robust growth, inequality in China could be a breeding ground for future instability. His talk will explore whether development economists in the West should be concerned about this possibility, what implications are of the human capital caps on the economy and political stability, and whether there are lessons from the rest of the world that might be applicable to China.

Rozelle is co-director of the Rural Education Action Program in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also is chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and Co-director of the University of California's Agricultural Issues Center. He is the recipient of the Friendship Award from China's Premier, the highest award given to a non-Chinese and has also been awarded the National Science and Technology Collaboration Award

A reception will follow Rozelle's talk, which is free and open to the public.