When should households be compensated for land-use restrictions? A decision-making framework for Chinese forest policy

Competing uses of land mean that regulations aimed at environmental conservation often conflict with the land-use rights of rural households. Several reports suggest that this has occurred with the introduction of the Natural Forest Protection Programme (NFPP) in China, one of the world's largest logging ban programmes. This paper investigates whether households should be compensated for infringements on property rights, drawing on institutional economics literature on regulation. We distinguish between cases where regulation solves local collective action problems and increases the welfare of those affected, and those where regulation involves a redistribution of rights from one group to another. We apply this to the NFPP by estimating the net welfare impacts, using household level stated preference data with econometric techniques that explicitly account for zero and negative values of the dependent variable. We find that the ban on logging does not affect the net welfare of the affected forest communities. This indicates that the losses resulting from the restrictions on property rights are offset by the benefits from restrictions on other local households. We also find evidence that a partial reduction in logging would be welfare increasing, indicating that the NFPP is to some extent addressing local collective action problems in forest areas. Broader implications for the question of compensating for infringement of property rights as the result of regulatory interventions in contexts of institutional imperfections are also drawn.     

中国农村集体非农建设用地市场长期动态均衡分析

研究目的：通过对中国集体建设用地直接入市的进入阻止博弈分析，找出集体非农建设用地市场的长期动态均衡。研究方法：博弈分析。研究结果：中国农村集体非农建设用地市场的演化符合一般进入阻止动态博弈模型，农民对政府的影响使政府丧失了稳定的先动优势，农民与政府互为非农建设用地供给领头者的局面，在长期动态博弈中，“{打击，（进入，进入）}”成为精炼子博弈纳什均衡。研究结论：为最大限度地避免社会福利损失，确保城乡非农建设用地竞争市场的实现，必须打破政府土地征用垄断坚冰，允许集体非农建设用地入市，必须加快对农村集体经济组织的建设，尽快实现政府和农民的非农建设用地供给力量的平衡。     

农户对宅基地流转福利的认同研究——以湖北省为例

[目的]文章基于可行能力理论构建农户对宅基地流转福利的认同的理论模型,利用湖北省武汉、仙桃、恩施宅基地流转农户的实地调研数据,运用模糊综合评价法定量评价农户对宅基地流转福利的认同度,从农户主观价值认知视角评估宅基地流转对农户福利的影响效应。[方法]模糊综合评价法。[结果](1)总体上,农户认同宅基地流转福利,当前宅基地流转政策改善了农户福利。(2)宅基地流转对农户福利效应存在差异,宅基地流转显著改善了家庭经济、居住条件和心理感受福利,其次为社区环境和社会保障福利,改善农户发展机遇福利效应最低,且农户不认同宅基地流转后发展机遇福利。(3)宅基地流转改善农户福利效应存在禀赋差异,因经济发展水平、区位优势以及宅基地流转方式不同,农户对宅基地流转福利的认同存在差异。[结论]当前进一步深化宅基地流转政策改革对于提高农户福利,实施乡村振兴具有重要意义。农户对宅基地流转政策改革期望值较高,为进一步深化宅基地流转政策奠定了基础。     

公共政策及其响应:基于农民信任机制的解释——以农地确权政策为例

本文基于“交易类型—公平感知—政治信任”的研究框架,分析中国农村公共政策的响应逻辑。公共政策响应依赖于政治信任,较高水平的政治信任能够降低政策实施的交易成本。其内在机制在于,各层级政府与个体在政策响应过程中构成了康芒斯式的交易类型组合,进而催生个体产生不同的公平诉求,最终影响个体对各层级政府的政治信任。本文以农地确权政策为例,将政治信任作为农户响应农业政策的代理变量并使用广东省农户调研数据进行实证检验。结果表明,结果公平、程序公平、信息公平和人际公平均显著提升了农户对地方政府的政治信任;人际公平显著提升了农户对中央政府的政治信任;整体公平感知对农户的地方政府信任有显著正向影响。实证结果在控制住人际信任、家庭政治资本与社会网络、村庄禀赋与历史因素后仍然稳健。本文的政策启示是,在农村公共政策实施中,鼓励多维公平的实现,谨慎对待政策推进的效率攀比,这对提升农民的政治信任并激发社会活力具有重要现实意义。     

Patterns of revenue distribution in rural residential land consolidation in contemporary China: The perspective of property rights delineation

Rural residential land consolidation (RRLC) in contemporary China refers to activities related to the replanning and reallocation of rural residential land to construct new rural residences, to increase land-use efficiency and to improve rural amenities in the context of rural revitalization. The objective of this study is to elucidate the patterns of revenue distribution in RRLC by addressing the following questions. Given incomplete and ambiguous formal rules in China, how can rural land property rights be delineated to distribute and coordinate interests among stakeholders in RRLC? Furthermore, what are the factors that determine the delineation of rural land property rights to distribute land revenue? A theoretical framework for the delineation of rural land property rights is developed from the perspectives of the institutional environment, governance and resource allocation. A comparative analysis of two typical cases of RRLC in contemporary China is conducted to support the research hypotheses. This study finds that bargaining power is the fundamental determinant of delineating rural land property rights to distribute revenue in RRLC. Furthermore, intergovernmental competition motivates the local government to fully deploy strong bargaining power, while concerns about social stability provide some constraints. A strong capability for collective action reinforces the bargaining power of rural households. This study provides new insights into the delineation of rural land property rights and subsequent revenue distribution based on distinctive institutional settings and RRLC in China, enriching the theoretical and empirical findings in the property rights school. Policy recommendations on revenue sharing of RRLC are proposed accordingly.     

政府制度性寻租实证研究--以中国土地征用制度为例

研究目的:运用产权经济学分析解决中国土地征用中的政府制度性寻租问题.研究方法:实证分析法、因果分析法、文献资料法.研究结果:政府介入经济关系的强制性破坏土地市场经济关系,政府制度性租金相对值约为17倍.研究结论:政府应该利用竞争机制消散制度性租金,以优化土地资源配置和社会福利分配.     

农村宅基地资格权实现形式及其理论解释 ——基于义乌、湄潭、余江改革案例

研究目的:比较、剖析试点地区宅基地资格权实现形式案例并进行理论阐释,为宅基地资格权立法与改革提供参考和借鉴。研究方法:理论研究法,案例研究法。研究结果:运用“经济—社会”产权理论分析义乌、湄潭、余江农村宅基地资格权案例可知,不同发展阶段下村庄内经济产权与社会产权的主导作用不同,造成资格权认定、行使等实现方式方面差异明显。义乌资格权偏向于财产性权利,实现方式更加灵活,善于运用市场方式运作。余江资格权则是偏向于内部成员的身份性权利,是原住村民的福利资源,依赖村庄内部的宗族血亲关系来实现。湄潭资格权则是介于二者之间,在实现对本地村民福利保障基础上,适度向外来人口开放,以稳定流动人口所带来的经济效益。研究结论:从立法层面,宅基地资格权立法应将底线思维与动态灵活性相结合。从理论层面,可以从动态性视角去理解宅基地资格权的多种实现形式。从实践层面,各地要依据村庄发展实际,搭配不同的资格权认定与行使政策工具才能符合现实的生产、生活需求,使宅基地资格权真正服务于乡村发展。     

Changes in farmers’ welfare from land requisition in the process of rapid urbanization

The marked impact of the welfare gap on total welfare within collectives has rarely, if at all, been addressed in traditional welfare theories and in Amartya Sen's theory of welfare functioning and capabilities. With this observation as our starting point, we constructed a research framework that combined welfare functioning, the welfare gap, and welfare capability to assess and analyze changes in the welfare of farmers whose land was requisitioned in Zhejiang province. The findings of our study were as follows. (1) The total welfare functioning of farmers whose land was requisitioned increased by 11.8% as a result of improvements in economic and dwelling conditions and community surroundings. However, social security and psychological conditions deteriorated. (2) Although total welfare functioning has improved, gaps are widening in the distribution of welfare functioning among farmers who underwent land requisition. This was evidenced by the increase of the weighted Gini coefficient, which rose from 0.26 to 0.32 after land requisition. (3) As a result of the improvement in welfare capability, a judgmental bias is evident when farmers assess whether they have gained or lost welfare after land requisition. We conclude that welfare studies should focus not only on the quantitative aspects of welfare distribution, but should also pay more attention to its fairness and impartiality. This can prevent social problems posed by an oversized welfare gap. Moreover, after land requisition, the government and community should provide education and training services, and the current one-time compensation model should be replaced by a lifelong compensation model. At the same time, endowment insurance should be extended in rural areas and urban medical insurance should be progressively incorporated into the social security benefits of farmers who have undergone land requisition.     

农村居民点用地集约利用的动力与激励机制初探

研究目的：研究农村居民点用地集约利用问题。研究方法：文献资料法、实地调查研究。研究结果：农村居民点用地集约利用的主体有中央政府、地方政府和农户,激励机制主要包括收入激励、产权激励和政府管理激励。研究结论：通过对中央政府、地方政府与农户在农村居民点用地集约利用上的行为逻辑分析,揭示了影响集约利用的深层动因,扩展了农村居民点用地集约利用的思路;运用补贴、产权制度安排和政府管理等手段,可以有效激励用地主体集约利用农村居民点用地。     

Urban integration of land-deprived households in China: Quality of living and social welfare

This study finds that the land-deprived households who have migrated from rural to urban areas (the land-deprived urban households) in all regions of China are not well integrated into urban society, which is reflected by their lower quality of living and inferior social welfare compared to normal urban households. However, we find an anomaly that land-deprived urban households, compared to the normal urban households, have lower quality of living and lower participation rate in urban social security, but have similar level of self-evaluated happiness. This anomaly can be explained by the fact that the land-deprived urban households self-select into inferior communities with neighbors of similar living and social conditions, and their happiness and social utility depend more on their status relative to their neighbors than on their status relative to the whole urban society. In addition, this study finds that land acquisition raises the quality of living and social welfare of the land-deprived households, migrating into urban areas does not improve their quality of living or social welfare, but better education and younger age facilitate their integration into urban society.     

The incentives of China's urban land finance

Land grant premiums and land tax revenues have become two major sources of fiscal revenue for city governments in China. This type of fiscal revenue strategy for city governments is generally referred to as “land finance”, and it has drawn increasing research attention in recent years. This paper explores the institutional causes of the “land finance” strategy of city governments in China. We first analyze the institutional foundation of “land finance” (including China's urban land use system and land expropriation system). We then propose two hypotheses about the institutional causes of “land finance”. The first hypothesis is that the current system of fiscal decentralization is a major reason city governments choose the “land finance” fiscal strategy. The second hypothesis is that under the current personnel control system, which uses local economic performance as the most important indicator for evaluating local government officials, the competition between city governments to promote local economic growth is another major reason city governments choose the “land finance” fiscal strategy. We test the hypotheses by estimating econometric models using data for 31 provincial-level regions for the period 1999–2008. The empirical results suggest that fiscal decentralization and competition between city governments to promote economic growth are two major causes of “land finance”.     

不同模式下农村宅基地退出的农户福利效应研究以福建省晋江市为例

目的 为合理引导农村宅基地有序退出并制定出科学的宅基地退出管理策略,亟需开展不同模式下农村宅基地退出的农户福利效应研究,准确把握农户在此过程中的生活质量变化状况。方法 文章以阿玛蒂亚·森提出的可行能力理论为基础,构建宅基地退出的农户福利评价指标体系,利用晋江市的调研数据,运用模糊数学综合评价方法,评价和比较不同模式下农村宅基地退出的农户福利效应及其差异。结果 资产置换模式和指标置换模式下宅基地退出后农户的总福利水平都有所改善,总模糊指数分别从0.378、0.404上升到0.399、0.418,货币补偿模式总福利水平则呈下降的状态,从0.412下降到0.373。其中资产置换模式和指标置换模式在社会保障、居住条件和心理状况的农户福利水平有所上升,家庭经济和决策参与的农户福利水平下降,两者改变程度有所差异。货币补偿模式只有居住条件的农户福利得到改善。宅基地退出后农户之间的福利差异进一步扩大,福利差异系数从0.114上升到0.147。结论 不同模式的宅基地退出致使农户福利效应差异明显,使其对农户的生活方式和长远生计的影响程度有所不同。因此,应综合考虑不同宅基地退出模式下农户福利效应差异,从科学设定宅基地退出的补偿标准、规范宅基地退出程序、分类实施宅基地退出保障措施等方面提升农户福利水平和促进农户福利均衡发展。     

An assessment of farmers’ satisfaction with land consolidation performance in China

Rural land consolidation has been a very important and efficient development tool all over the world for a century and is now an indispensable instrument for rural sustainable development in China. The Chinese central government has devoted large sums of money to rural consolidation projects each year in an effort to help protect cultivated land, to improve agricultural production, to enhance the socio-economic development of rural communities, and to help build rural landscapes. However, little attention has been paid to evaluating the performance of land consolidation projects from the view of community members, which is sorely needed. Household satisfaction with land consolidation projects is a key indicator of consolidation performance. Understanding the factors that influence household satisfaction is an effective way of dealing with problems in the interactions between land restructuring and human behaviors in rural areas and can help improve project performance. This paper examines the performance of land consolidation in terms of rural households’ levels of satisfaction in rural China and analyses the most influential factors of satisfaction. Data were gathered via questionnaires and analyzed with a probit model. Results indicated three significant points. First, overall satisfaction rate was 76.5%, meaning that most rural households in the regions of Hangzhou, Changsha, and Guiyang were satisfied with land consolidation projects. Second, 11 factors significantly affected rural residents’ satisfaction with consolidation. These factors included farmers’ level of education, employment characteristics, family size, input level of agricultural production, agricultural produce transportation methods, level of agricultural mechanization, the characteristics of land transfer in the village and within their own families, the perceived importance of land consolidation, their level of social insurance support, and their participation in rural production cooperatives. Third, six of these factors had positive effects on performance; four had negative effects, and one (employment characteristics) demonstrated a significant influence.     

Effects of payments for ecosystem services programs in China on rural household labor allocation and land use: Identifying complex pathways

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is increasingly used in developing countries to secure the sustainable provision of vital ecosystem services. The largest PES programs in the world are embedded in China’s new forest policies, which aim to expand forest cover for soil and water conservation and improve livelihoods of rural people. The objective of this study is to identify the complex pathways of the impacts of two PES programs , the Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP), on household livelihood decisions, and to quantify the direct and indirect impacts along the identified pathways. We fulfill this objective by developing an integrated conceptual framework and applying a Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), based on household survey data from Anhui, China. Labor allocation (for on-farm work, local paid work, local business, or out-migration) and land use decisions (i.e., rent in, maintain, rent out, or abandon cropland) for participating households are key to understand PES program effects on livelihoods. Results show that the PES programs have only small direct effects but significant indirect effects via the mediating factor of capital assets. Moreover, group heterogeneity analysis shows that lower-income households do not benefit more than the better-off households from the PES programs, while households with medium wealth increase dependence on agriculture. In addition, household demographics, individual attributes, and geographic settings differ in their impacts on labor allocation and land use decisions. We conclude that CCFP and EWFP would be more efficient in conserving the environment while improving the economic welfare of lower-income households if capital assets were taken into account in the design of compensation schemes.     

公私合作农地整理项目的博弈分析：一个分析框架

在界定公私合作农地整理项目模式的基础上,采用博弈分析法,分析公私合作农地整理项目参与主体的行为目标,探究公私合作农地整理项目中的政府与企业、企业与农村集体组织、企业与农户的博弈关系。研究结果表明,公私合作农地整理项目参与主体的行为目标存在差异;协调政府追求社会福利最大化与企业追求利润最大化的目标冲突可提高项目效率;协调企业与农村集体组织对促进合作有正向影响;农户参与对提高农户项目的满意度有显著意义;政府单一财政投资存在低效率现象,企业单独投资可能导致社会福利损失,政府和企业合作有利于提高农地整理项目的投资效率;政府和企业的合作均衡受各自保留效用的影响,企业与农村集体组织合作投资的初始投入成本对合作具有正向作用;超额收益分配是否合理,影响企业与农村集体组织双方的策略选择,而初始投入成本和违约赔偿金额对农户与企业的合作关系有正向影响。     

农村土地流转的供求意愿及其流转效率的评价研究

研究目的:研究农村土地流转的农户供求意愿,定量评价土地流转的经济效率。研究方法:通过设置的土地流转意愿度指标分析农户土地流转的供给意愿,通过农户实际土地经营规模和最适土地经营规模的比较分析农户的需求意愿,利用市场供求模型估算土地流转带来的供求双方农户经济福利。研究结果:中部6省的农户供给意愿在0.18—0.52之间,农户实际土地经营规模为0.27—0.73 hm2/户,最适土地经营规模0.61—1.08 hm2/户,以100—300元/亩流转交易价实行土地流转后,中部6省中各省供给方农户的经济福利可达到1.1—9.2亿元,需求方农户的经济福利可达到2.2—12.2亿元。研究结论:从供给角度看,当前农户的土地流转意愿低;从需求角度看,农户有土地流转的意愿。土地流转交易使土地资源和劳动力资源得到重新配置,增进了土地供给者和土地需求者的福利,提高了经济效率。     

农户参与市场化生态补偿意愿及影响因素分析

[目的]与参与政府主导的生态补偿项目不同,农户参与市场化生态补偿有更大的自主性,因此在"建立市场化、多元化生态补偿"背景下,加强农户参与市场化生态补偿意愿的研究具有重要意义。探究农户参与市场化生态补偿的意愿,并识别出影响因素,寻求提高农户市场化生态补偿参与意愿的发力点。[方法]文章基于贵州省仁怀市208户农户问卷调查数据,运用二元Logistic回归从农户个体特征、家庭特征、农业经营特征和农户行为态度四个方面研究农户参与市场化生态补偿意愿及其影响因素。[结果]农户参与市场化生态补偿意愿整体较高,81.25%的农户表示愿意参与市场化生态补偿。家庭务农人数越多、家中有村干部、平地数量越多、坡地数量越少、对坡耕地经济收益越不满意、认为水质下降对作物产量影响越严重、越认同参与生态补偿可获得荣誉感的农户,越愿意参与市场化生态补偿。[结论]增强农户参与市场化生态补偿意愿要从以下三个方面发力:保障和提高农户参与市场化生态补偿后的经济收益;降低农户对土地的依赖程度;增强农户参与市场化生态补偿的荣誉感和参与感。     

Failure by design – National mandates and agent control of local land use in China

This paper aims to fill the void in the literature by answering the following research question: to what extent has the Chinese central government institutionalized public participation for addressing the challenge of agent control of local land use in China? Focusing on the stated purposes, specified actors, and installed mechanisms of public participation and government accountability, an institutional analysis was conducted on the national land use regulations and policies enacted between 1947 and 2012. It was found, without institutionalized input and surveillance from bottom-up by individual citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs), the top-down approaches remained ineffective and land use was mainly left for manipulation by local governments. The rural-urban dichotomy and lack of institutionalized public participation in land use decision-making have compromised equal economic and social opportunity for farmers, eroded public trust in local governments, and led to social unrest. Thus, the central government needs not only to directly control the discharge of discretionary power by local governments, but also to empower the public for holding the government accountable for land use decisions.     

预算约束条件下政府最优征地路径模型研究

研究目的：针对土地征收过程中地方政府动态最优征地路径的选择问题，建立预算约束条件下政府最优征地路径模型，对最优征地路径进行求解和绘制相关相图。研究方法：基于最优控制理论的数理分析方法。研究结果：预算约束的存在会影响最优征地路径的形态和性质，并可能造成社会福利损失。研究结论：应通过更为灵活的征地指标管理策略和地方政府融资手段，最大程度地减少预算约束的不利影响，更好地实现社会福利。