美国的合作社(七)

第十章资本管理合作社还有一个特殊业务 ,就是退回多余的股本。社员向合作社的资本贡献在逐年累积 ,但是 ,由于有些社员停止与合作社交易 ,使得合作社与社员之间的业务量可能会降低。因此 ,必须有一种方式来调整合作社的股权关系 ,使其更好地履行为现有社员服务的职责。匹配社员惠顾与资本的各种方法中 ,被人们普遍接受的有三种 ,即资金周转方案、特别方案和基础资本方案。这几种方法之间虽然没有内在联系 ,但在实际工作中 ,人们往往将他们结合起来运用。一、资金周转方案在资金周转方案中 ,社员每年都向合作社投资 ,投资主要是通过惠顾返还…     

盈余分配制度对合作社经营绩效影响的实证分析：基于新制度经济学视角

基于第二期全国新型农业经营主体发展指数调查中的706个合作社样本,本文从新制度经济学视角分析了盈余分配制度对合作社经营绩效的影响效果及作用机理。实证结果表明,二次返利具有明显的增收效应,以无盈余分配为参照,不同盈余分配方式都能够显著提升合作社经营绩效,公平且有效率的盈余分配方式的增收效应最明显。多种倾向得分匹配方法、Rosenbaum边界估计和内生转换回归模型的稳健性检验均表明,二次返利对合作社经营绩效有显著的正向影响。影响机制检验表明,盈余分配制度通过激励相容机制促进了惠顾提升、风险分摊、产品市场深化,进而提升了合作社经营绩效。因而,完善制度建设、强化带动农户及推动生产经营创新对合作社发展至关重要。     

农业合作社的集体行动困境:理论分析与实证检验

合作社对内提供的各项服务具有公共品特征,其功能的实现程度从长期看主要与社员的惠顾承诺有关。本文以苹果产业为案例背景,利用调查数据实证考察合作社内部搭便车现象,重点分析社员规模、社员异质性、选择性激励等因素对搭便车程度的影响及其作用机理。研究表明,在社员规模越大或社员异质性越突出的合作社,社员搭便车程度越高;选择性激励对搭便车程度的影响不显著,原因可能是选择性激励执行效果欠佳;合作社类型和有无冷库对搭便车程度的影响不显著,但成立时间对搭便车程度的影响为负。本文认为,合作社设置资格门槛筛选合适社员以适度控制社员规模、鼓励耕地在合作社内部自由流转以降低社员异质性、切实执行选择性激励措施并提高激励强度是缓解社员搭便车的重要途径。     

论合作社惠顾返还原则的价值——对“一次让利”替代二次返利的质疑

惠顾返还作为合作社实现公平正义目标的重要原则,具有提高对成员的凝聚力、保护弱小成员利益、鼓励成员关注合作社的可持续经营和形成利益共享、风险共担的机制等重要价值。现实中的"一次让利"替代二次返利现象导致了惠顾返还价值的偏离,因而需要有相应的对策以矫正现实对该原则的价值扭曲。     

林业专业合作社盈余利益分配的理论分析

本研究对林业专业合作社盈余利益分配进行理论分析,认为应将社员可计量、减少的交易成本与获得的交易优惠,看作按交易额(量)比例返利的盈余利益进行分析,更能真实体现合作社盈余利益分配关系,并以典型案例进行验证,同时提出完善合作社利益分配制度的建议。     

美国的合作社(四)

第七章合作社的内部组织机构合作社是由接受其服务的社员拥有和控制的,所以被合作社联系在一起的社员应该比一般企业里的人员更加紧密地团结工作。对于合作社来说,其动力的源泉是社员获得满意的服务,而不是投资者的收益最大化。合作社的发展依赖于一个团结、协作的队伍。这个队伍包括四部分,社员或所有者、董事会、经理和其他雇员,他们各有自己的明确职责。队伍中每一部分人员的尽职尽责和理智、积极的协作是合作社成功的基础。一、社员社员是合作社的基础。社员组建了合作社,社员的需要是合作社存在的理由,社员的惠顾和资本投入保证…     

农民专业合作社利润分配机制研究——以浙江省临海市翼龙农产品合作社为案例

本文研究的主要问题是:农民专业合作社内部的利润分配机制存在什么问题?如何改进其利润分配机制,实现公平与效率的统一?主要采取实证研究和理论研究相结合的方法,以浙江省临海市翼龙农产品合作社为例,运用夏普利值法对利润分配机制加以研究。得出如下研究结论:农民专业合作社不同的利润分配机制对农民的权益将产生不同的影响,股份合作制一定意义上有失公平;按照社员惠顾额进行的利益分配,是确保每个社员在合作社中权益的手段之一。对此提出如下建议:农民专业合作社内部的利润分配机制应坚持以按交易量(额)比例返还盈余为主;限定会员的出资额度和按出资额返还的比率,对企业或社会资金加入合作社资金的情况应制定控制其权益扩大而损害农民权益的对策;尽量限制企业或社会资金的进入,合作社发展的必要资金应由政府负担。     

农户入股农村土地股份合作社决策和绩效评价分析——基于江苏1831份农户调查北大核心CSSCI

农村土地股份合作社在我国发展已有数十年,对推进我国土地适度规模经营与农业现代化起到了显著作用。然而,近年来多处地区的农村土地股份合作社的运行绩效受阻,甚至出现农户退社行为。为了维持农村土地股份合作社稳步发展与示范社建设,有必要从社员视角去考察不同类型的农村土地股份合作社的绩效并找出关键影响因素。本文以江苏省四个地区的社员与非社员农户调研数据为例,分析农户的入股决策行为和不同地区不同类型的农村土地股份合作社的社员绩效评价值差异,实证结果显示农户的自身变量、家庭特征、入社后的体验效果以及地区因素都影响农户的入股决策行为及其所在类型的农村土地股份合作社的绩效评价。     

农民专业合作社的代际问题与效率提升

通过建立一个"生产+加工"股份制农民专业合作社模型,推导了农民专业合作社代际问题的产生机制及其对效率的影响。研究结论是,合作社成长由历代社员的合作而推动,不同时期入社社员对合作社累积的"公共资产"理应拥有不同的利益索取权。因此,要区别对待新老社员获取账户财产"份额"的成本,既要合理核定账户财产"份额"的价格,也要区别对待新老社员当期产品供给的支付,即新社员的当期供给的支付只能反映当期供给量的现值。否则就会产生代际问题,进而扭曲不同时期入社社员的惠顾行为而降低农民专业合作社的效率。为此,农民专业合作社的"公共资产"不仅应分时期以公允价值法核定社员账户财产"份额"的价格,还应按照社员的历史惠顾额对其当期的产品供给价格进行调整。     

社员履约行为对农民专业合作社组织绩效的影响研究——基于广东省62家农民专业合作社的实证分析

本文以中国农民专业合作社发展为现实背景,主要以广东省农民专业合作社的发展实践为实证,分析了农民专业合作社的社员履约行为与其组织绩效之间的相互关系。分析结果显示,农民专业合作社社员的履约行为与合作社的组织绩效紧密相关,特别是社员履约程度对农民专业合作社的成长能力,绩效能力,社员满意度三个方面都有显著的影响。因此,提高农民专业合作社社员的履约质量和履约率有助于提高农民专业合作社的绩效。     

Price transmission between products at different stages of manufacturing in forest industries

The theory of demand and supply implies a positive relationship, or “price transmission” between the prices of products at different stages of manufacturing. This relationship was investigated with quarterly prices of softwood stumpage in the US South, and national prices of forest products, from 1977 to 2002. All prices, net of inflation, were found to be nonstationary and there was no evidence of co-integration between prices. Vector autogressive models, augmented by Granger causality tests and multiplier analysis showed that there was a one-to-one permanent positive response of the southern sawtimber stumpage price to a permanent change in the national lumber price. There was also a one-third permanent positive response of the national paper price to a permanent change in the national pulp price. There was no relation between regional pulpwood prices and national pulp or paper prices. When price transmission was significant, the full adjustment took about 2 years.     

Application of an ecosystem function framework to perceptions of community woodlands

Owners, local residents, government, and conservation organisations can express divergent preferences in the development and management of local woodlands. The perceptions of these four groups were examined, in the context of three community woodlands in Eastern England, using an ecosystem function framework. In a pilot study, residents were able to allocate a relative importance to woodland ecosystem services which were then related to “regulation”, “habitat”, and “production” or “information” functions. However residents also placed importance on negative services or “dis-services” associated with the woodland ecosystem. Therefore a fifth category of “dis-services” was included in the main survey which included 84 local residents, three woodland owners, three government institutions, and six representatives from conservation groups. Each of the four groups placed greatest importance on services associated with habitat (16–39% of the total importance) and information (30–50%) functions suggesting, in this example, mutual interest in the use of woodlands as a habitat or recreational resource. By contrast a potential area of difference was the particularly high importance placed by one owner on dis-services such as fly tipping. In addition the woodland owners placed higher importance (10–20%), than local residents and conservation groups (7–9%), on the productive services of the wood. This suggests a need for communication when production-related operations affect recreation. The ecosystem function framework appears to be a useful approach for highlighting potential tensions and areas of mutual interest in the management of semi-natural ecosystems.     

The Effect of the Structural Adjustment Program on the Output,Prices and Exports of Major Agricultural Export Crops in Nigeria

The primary objective of this paper is to examine changes in the level of output, prices and exports of major export crops resulting from the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in Nigeria. THere two main sources of data: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its annual reports, Economic and Financial Review, and the Nigerian Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) through its Trade Summaries. Although the SAP led to appreciable increases in output and producer prices, its effects on exports were insignificant. The implications of these for the implementation of the program are explored.     

In Vino ‘No’ Veritas: impacts of fraud on wine imports in China

China is one of the largest wine importing countries in the world and is poised for continued import growth in the future. Increased wine purchases throughout China have given rise to persistent fraud where fake wines are packaged and sold with counterfeit contents and labels. For exporting countries like France, counterfeit wines displace market share, damage foreign brand reputation, and cause distrust in consumers who are aware of counterfeiting problems throughout the country. We examine the impact of fraudulent wine events (as measured by negative media reports) on Chinese wine demand differentiated by supplying country. We employ the Rotterdam demand system and a switching regression procedure to estimate import demand and compare results across different media variable specifications. Results consistently show that negative reports disproportionately affect French wine regardless of how the media variable is specified. This is not surprising because most fraudulent events involve French wine counterfeits.     

An evaluation framework for earthquake-responsive land administration

In recent years earthquakes and their secondary hazards have claimed the largest number of lives of all large natural disasters. Some of the world’s most earthquake-prone zones are also areas of high population density. The impact is magnified by vulnerability factors including non-enforcement of building codes, knowledge gaps, urban poverty and poor governance capacity to manage and reduce earthquake risks. Poor security of land tenure and property rights increases the vulnerability of people and affects their ability to respond to natural disasters.Earthquake recovery and reconstruction provides very significant challenges for land agencies, with these challenges differing from one country to the next due to differences in the local context. Drawing on contrasting case studies in Haiti, Nepal and New Zealand this paper identifies the common post-earthquake land administration functions and challenges that may apply to many contexts. These lessons provide land agencies and other key stakeholders with a summary of the challenges an earthquake poses for land administration at different post-disaster stages. We also discuss the policy and regulatory, institutional, operational and preparedness lessons for land administration. From these lessons we propose a framework for evaluating the earthquake-responsiveness of a land administration system. This framework can be used by a land agency in an earthquake prone region, or where an earthquake has recently occurred, to assess what challenges to land administration might occur in the event of an earthquake, and the preparedness of their land administration system.     

Agrarian Poverty,Nutrition and Economic Class – A Study of Gujarat,India

This paper analyses poverty and calorific undernourishment in the Indian state of Gujarat, where high and market‐led industrial growth has resulted in rapid economic improvement. The study is carried out through a combination of secondary and survey‐based data. We conclude that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward‐looking growth has not resulted in significant reduction of poverty or malnourishment in rural areas. Furthermore, while land ownership is officially used as a proxy for wealth distribution, class position appears a better predictor of poverty status in the rural areas than landownership per se. At the policy level, there is a need to revive the agrarian economy and create new non‐agricultural assets, and the primary focus in the state must shift to the distribution of created assets rather than a single‐minded focus on growth.     

Revealing different understandings of soil held by scientists and farmers in the context of soil protection and management

This paper aims to analyse and draw together results from similar studies in England, Switzerland and France which investigated farmers’ understanding of soil and compared it with that of scientists, researchers and advisors (collectively called scientists in this analysis). A range of methods were used across the three studies and different theoretical approaches, looking at forms of knowledge, local practice of knowledge production and conceptions of reality, were employed to explain the results. Despite the different contexts, methodologies and theoretical approaches in the three studies, the results reveal similar patterns of difference in farmer and scientist understanding of soil. In the English study, farmers demonstrate a ‘know-how’ form or intuitive working knowledge of soil while advisors rely on scientifically established forms of ‘know-why’ and seek to understand and explain soil processes. Similarly in the Swiss study farmers’ and scientists’ differing perceptions are directed and shaped by their respective aims, methods and context of work. In the French study, farmers and researchers are shown to have different conceptions of soil, they attribute different meaning to the same activities, and use different words and language to describe the same features. In all three studies understanding is shown to be cultural and contextual, as such an integrative theoretical framework is proposed.     

森林生物多样性评价模型的改进

针对2002年的评价模型中的不足,提出了新的改进后的森林生物多样性变化的评价模型,并在我国第六次森林资源清查(1999～2003)资料的基础上,对1973～2003年我国森林生物多样性的变化进行了补充评价。评价结果表明:我国森林生物多样性的压力越来越大,压力指数由1973年的100,上升到2003年的199.10,上升了1.99倍;森林物种多样性总体的下降趋势已有一定幅度的改变,森林物种多样性指数增加了31.12%。森林生态系统多样性和森林生物多样性先逐渐上升,尔后又下降,第六次森林资源清查时又有所恢复,并分别上升了4.67个百分点和17.90个百分点。     

Underpayment of Small Producers of Coffee and Cocoa in Sierra Leone

Fieldwork shows that many Sierra Leonean producers do not receive the official producer price for their coffee and cocoa, due to the concentration of buying stations, credit relations, the small quantities offered for sale, and the lack of marketing knowledge of the numerous and unorganized farmers. To the traders underpayment may seem economically justifiable to a certain extent, but to the farmers it means poverty and debt. A new village marketing centre project aims at remedying this situation and has already led to higher prices. Although no longer allowed to take their "just" share from the producers, traders are still willing to deal with the new centres.     

Does sustainable agricultural growth require a system of innovation? Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso

This paper tests the ‘systems of innovation’ hypothesis for a selection of crops in Ghana and Burkina Faso that have shown significant growth in production over an approximately 20-year period. The question is whether such growth can only occur if supported by a system of innovation. Using two indicators (a common understanding on objectives and priorities, and a high level of interactivity), we find little evidence for the existence of anything that might be considered a high functioning system of innovation.