Research On The Problems Of Information Asymmetry In Agricultural Product Market

The No.1 Documents stated annually by China Government from 2004 to 2009 indicate fully the highlight of China & CCPC to issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers, of which the market of agricultural products acts as the critical one of all. The problems of agriculture products, of which the asymmetric information is the main one, is related to the solution to the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers which cover increase of farmers' income, rural stability and agricultural sustainable development, and to the competitivity of Chinese agricultural products and even the national economic development.In market economy, the information is of great importance that it is critical for success in marketing to acquire exact information by which the resources could be allocated reasonably for meeting the demand of market system. Especially, Chinese agricultural production, as a part of social production, is required to adjust to market economy full of uncertainty, and is required to acquire the information of demand and supply and price in time exactly and effectively so as to lower the risk of agricultural market.Thus, the informational asymmetry is an elemental factor of which result in the farmers' weakness in acquiring information, the difficult increase in farmers' income and even other issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers.The essay covers seven chapters. The first one is an introduction which puts forward the problem of informational asymmetry in Chinese market of agricultural products, then analyses the background, purpose and significance of research. Subsequently, the foreign and Chinese study on it is introduced and researching route and content are related as well as the new idea and deficiency in study.Chapter 2 displays the relative theories to the informational asymmetry in market of agricultural products. The theory of agricultural products including definition and classification of agricultural products are followed by the theory of informational economics which mainly covers concept, forms, theoretical development, research content and theory of micro-informational economics, among which the informational asymmetry is introduced including the basic idea, classification, causes, displays, consequences and the development of the theory.Chapter 3 deals with the historical development of agricultural products market and it of informational system. It concludes the formation and development of agricultural products market by dividing it to phase of state monopoly for purchase and marketing, phase of readjusting prices, phase of opening market for trading, phase of planning economy cooperating with market adjustment, phase of transforming to market economy and the phase of overall market economy. It sections the development of information service in agricultural products market into several stages: that of statistical information service, that of policy information service, that of transition to market information, that of market supply and demand, that of agricultural quality and food security information, and that of serving new rural construction.Chapter 4 analyses the display and effect of informational asymmetry in agricultural products market, especially, the Chinese market of agricultural products by discussing the situation, causes and effects.Chapter 5 illustrates the informational asymmetry in Chinese market of agricultural products by questionnaires and cases, and indicates that the differences in means to obtain the information in market and to deliver the information all show the asymmetry of information. And the case of pig raise is analysed to account for the problem of asymmetry.Chapter 6 relates the experiences and references from foreign countries about the information service in agricultural market, including that of U.S.,German, Japan, France, Korea and India, and puts forward that government should develop its guide role in information service, strengthen the construction of informational net and data base, stress the collection, sort and delivery of information, make relative regulation to promote the informationalization of agricultural market, diversify the serving bodies and forms, and reinforce the international cooperation with the foreign agricultural market.Chapter 7 proposes the measures to alleviate the informational asymmetry in Chinese market of agricultural products. At the first stage, the target and overall thought are given as to lower the cost for seeking information, improve the cooperation of chains of supply and demand and develop and perfect the informational service system. The second stage is involved in suggesting the target model for alleviating the informational asymmetry, of which the most important proposals are as following:1) To reinforce the construction of informational bodies by developing the guide of government, the driving force of society and the main force of farmers.2) To strengthen the building of the informational carriers, such as the informational net, the e-transaction, informational releasing means with modern communication, informational media in market, while making full use of traditional information channels for better informational coverage.3) To construct and perfect the related systems to agricultural products market like the system of information investigators, of geographic mark of products, of market permission, of informational collection, delivery, releasing and management, and system of building and managing market.4) To improve the mechanism of serving market information including bettering the informational release, announcement and spread, by encouraging diverse bodies to participate, establishing the assessment and regulation for market credibility, regulating the transmission,and precaution, promoting the sharing mechanism for information resources and the mechanism of consumers' participating in market management and supervision, and credit mechanism of market participants.