Scott Rozelle

Research

Rozelle knows Chinese well and his research is mostly associated with agricultural policies, economic institutions, and poverty and inequality in China. Over the years, Rozelle has published some 300 articles related to development problems of China, in journals such as the Journal of Economic Literature, Science, Nature, and The American Economic Review.

Additionally, he has made efforts to improve the living condition of school-aged children, such as suggesting plans for nutrition and educational efficiency. Through his perennial research, Rozelle indicated that the education in China has downsides that reflect noticeable disadvantages of the poor people, given billions of yuan Chinese government spent on education systems would possibly "go to waste" if students are not in a proper health condition.

Iron-deficiency anemia According to a report published by Chinese magazine Caixin in 2015, Rozelle's team collected data in regions such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, and concluded that, in northwestern China, iron-deficiency anemia appeared to be common for nearly 40% of students in fourth and fifth grade, causing poor health condition to children in rural areas. During his visits to numerous villages, Rozelle noticed that food varieties such as steamed buns, noodles, and rice compromised a major portion of rural children's diet, whereas meat and fresh vegetables and fruit were pretty scarce. In response to situations like this, the Chinese government implemented a policy that would provide every child in poor areas with healthy lunches, at the cost of 3 to 4 yuan each. But Rozelle's team made the estimation that only two daily servings of fresh vegetables and meat costing 7 to 8 yuan each would suffice the amount of iron needed for those children, meaning a real effective solution could largely increase the demand for funds. A possible approach Rozelle put forth was helping them to fight against the anemia by introducing vitamin tablets – the effect of which would not be optimal, but it would cost way less and help much more.

Intestinal parasite In Guizhou and other regions in southern China where climates are similar, Rozelle discovered that intestinal parasites were affecting several million school-aged children. 50% of children in the areas being investigated suffered from at least one type of parasite, such as roundworm, hookworm, and whip worm. Rozelle's team filed relevant reports to local governments in 2010 in an attempt to highlight the seriousness, but the issue had not been resolved promptly, as Rozelle observed in another visit to Guizhou 3 years later that parasites still persisted. Even so, he did not give up proposing potential solutions by pointing out that one deworming tablet would cost 2 yuan and taking two every six months would be enough for a child to get rid of parasites in a timely manner.

Nearsightedness Rozelle calculated that, on average, nearsightedness could be found on 30% of China's students aging from 10 to 12, yet he visited thousands of primary schools in the rural areas and found out that wearing glasses was not common at all, and only one or two out of one hundred middle school students had a pair of glasses. This led to further failure for the vision problems of 24% primary school students and 57% middle school students to be treated promptly, even though, Rozelle discovered, these students' academic performances were heavily affected by their vision.

Awards and honors The Friendship Award (2008) The National Science and Technology Collaboration Award (2009)

Selected works