Corruption is one of the most pervasive obstacles to economic and social development. However, in the existing literature it appears that corruption seems to be less harmful in some countries than in others. The most striking examples are well known as the "East Asian paradox": countries displaying exceptional growth records despite having thriving corruption cultures. The aim of this paper is to explain the high corruption but fast economic growth puzzle in China by providing …rm-level evidence of the relation between corruption and growth and investigating how …nancial development in ‡uences the former relationship. Our empirical results show that corruption is likely to contribute to …rms' growth. We further highlight the substitution relationship between corruption and …nancial development on …rm growth. This means that corruption appears not to be a vital constraint on …rm growth if …nancial markets are underdeveloped. However, pervasive corruption deters …rm growth where there are more developed …nancial markets. This implies that fast …rm growth will not be observed until a later stage of China's development when …nancial markets are well-functioning and corruption is under control. Furthermore, the substitution relationship exists in the private and state-owned …rms. Geographically, similar results can be seen in the Southeast and Central regions.

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Cadmium accumulation in crops presents a potential risk to human health. To understand the difference between dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous species in respect of Cd accumulation, and to develop fertilizer management practices to minimise Cd uptake, a growth chamber study was conducted to evaluate the interactive effects of Cd concentration in phosphate and Zn fertilizer on Cd uptake in flax (Linum usitatissimum L) and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L). Cadmium concentration was higher in flax than durum wheat shoots. Cadmium concentration was lower and Zn concentration higher in the flax seed and durum wheat grain than in the root, shoot or straw of both species. These results suggest that flax has comparatively ineffective barriers discriminating against the transport of Cd from the root to the shoot via the xylem, and that both crops may restrict Cd translocation to the seed/grain via the phloem. Commercial grade monoammonium phosphate (NH 4 H 2 PO 4 ) or triple superphosphate (Ca(H 2 PO 4 ) 2 ) produced higher seed Cd concentrations than did reagent grade P in flax but not in durum wheat. Application of P significantly decreased seed/grain Zn concentration and increased seed/grain Cd concentration. Zinc addition at 20 mg Zn kg −1 soil with P decreased seed/grain Cd concentration (average 42.2% for flax, 65.4% for durum wheat), Cd accumulation (average 37.2% for flax, 62.4% for durum wheat) and Cd translocation to the seed/grain (average 20.0% for flax, 34.5% for durum wheat) in both crops. These results indicate that there is an antagonistic effect of Zn on Cd for root uptake and distribution within the plant.

Soil phosphate (PO4–P) sorption and release is affected by reactions at the solution–soil surface interface. The objective of this study was to determine how the net negative surface charge and phosphate adsorption/desorption processes in a sandy‐loam soil were affected by cattle manure and inorganic fertilizer applications. The soil came from a field experiment where manure and triple superphosphate (TSP) were applied annually on an equivalent plant‐available P basis. After 4 yr, manured soils had 37% more negative surface charge in soil suspensions from pH 4 to 7 than TSP‐fertilized soils. Phosphate adsorption was 23% lower in soils receiving manure than TSP. The phosphate adsorption data (adsorption of added phosphate + native adsorbed phosphate) was modeled with the Langmuir 2‐surface equation, which revealed that the binding strength for phosphate, including native adsorbed phosphate, was about 50% less in the manured soils than the TSP‐fertilized soils. These results suggest that manure applications that increase the net negative surface charge also reduce the soil phosphate adsorption capacity. The cumulative desorbed phosphate was twofold greater from manured soils than TSP‐fertilized soils. This confirmed the results from phosphate adsorption isotherms showing that phosphate was weakly bound in manured soils, compared with TSP‐fertilized soils. We found that manuring not only decreased phosphate retention by the soil but also increased phosphate release into the soil solution, and thus may lead to greater transport of phosphate from agricultural land to waterways.

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