Agricultural Land in Vietnam: Markets Tempered by Family, Community and Socialist Practices

Since the late 1980s, markets involving agricultural land have emerged in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. One major reason is that collective farms, previously a central feature of the country's political economy, ended. And a major reason for that was villagers' everyday politics gnawed the underpinnings of the collectives until they collapsed. Rural households, for the most part, wanted to farm separately. Today they do. Land is not privatized, however. Farming households have land use rights, not ownership. This tempers markets, as do other conditions arising from contending schools of thought in Vietnam about how land should be used, distributed and regulated.     

What Was Left of the Groundnut Scheme? Development Disaster and Labour Market in Southern Tanganyika 1946–1952

The East African Groundnut Scheme in Tanganyika is probably the most dramatic and most cited failure of the ambitions of British late colonial developmentalism. Issues of labour supply in the scheme's short history, and the relationship of labour supply with the peasant economy of Southern Province, have received almost no attention, a gap which this article aims to begin to fill. It suggests that the implementation of the scheme gave rise to a political battle over labour market control between the colonial state in Tanganyika and scheme managers. The paper documents how, without any support from the colonial administration, the scheme attempted to recruit the large numbers of workers it required, and its frustrations in doing so. It investigates the factors that prevented labour supply satisfying demand, how peasants in the area engaged with the labour market (and were able to adjust their participation in it), and the impact of labour market growth on the household farm economy.     

Underground assets: potato biodiversity to improve the livelihoods of the poor

Vulnerability and limited assets both constrain the options of poor people, especially smallholder farmers. But the poor often also possess a range of potentially valuable natural, physical, financial, human and social-capital assets. Development interventions requiring high levels of assets that poor people do not have are unlikely to reduce poverty, but those which build on what they do have can build assets and so improve their options. Producing and processing potatoes are important livelihood strategies for millions of the poor. A careful understanding of the context and strategies of the poor can help indicate how potatoes can also be used to reduce poverty. This paper employs the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to examine these issues, using the Papa Andina case in the Andes as an example of new approaches to use potato diversity to improve livelihoods in a transforming development context. The Papa Andina regional initiative, together with its national partners, helps Andean farmers build new livelihood strategies using the genetic diversity of potatoes, local knowledge and social capital—assets that are often undervalued. But this does not occur in a vacuum; a range of policies and institutions are required, including, for example, collective action among farmers and interaction with outsiders such as market agents and agricultural service providers in order to foster market chain innovation and to access and build market opportunities. Accurate understanding of the changing context of producers, processors and consumers can help ensure that potatoes play a role in improving the welfare of the poor.     

从绝对贫困到相对贫困：土地要素对贫困影响分异识别研究

研究目的：精准识别绝对贫困和相对贫困不同时期土地要素对贫困的可能影响,评估土地要素对绝对贫困的帮扶效果,为推进土地要素更为精准地实现相对贫困治理提供参考。研究方法：多层线性模型。研究结果：（1）土地要素对于绝对贫困和相对贫困均具有较为突出的影响;（2）土地要素扶贫政策全面展开后,土地要素的资源和资本禀赋得到了有效改善,土地资本禀赋具有更为突出的未来改善潜力;（3）土地要素的资源和资本禀赋在各个时期都体现出了对贫困的异质性影响,资本禀赋相较于资源禀赋对于贫困均具有更强影响。研究结论：无论是在绝对贫困还是相对贫困治理中,均需高度重视土地要素的突出作用;在过去的扶贫攻坚战役中,一系列土地要素扶贫政策已然发挥了重要作用,而未来的相对贫困治理中亟待进一步促进土地要素禀赋改善,特别要着力重点提升土地要素资本化水平,从而有的放矢地推进更为精准的相对贫困治理。     

Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform

Many recent arguments for land reform share a central proposition concerning the relative efficiency of small farm production. This article argues that the theoretical reasoning underlying this proposition is not coherent, and furthermore the empirical support for this size–efficiency relationship in Africa is astonishingly weak. Given the evidence, the continued focus on the efficient, egalitarian family farm can only be ideologically driven. The poorest rural people are unlikely to benefit and will probably be harmed by the policies based on these arguments for land reform. To illustrate this point, the article considers data from land redistribution programmes, particularly in South Africa, that suggest not only that the poorest did not acquire land, but also that they suffered declines in rural wage earning opportunities that are crucial for their survival.     

基于双重差分模型的土地整治多维减贫效应研究*——以天水甘谷县为例

[目的]土地整治作为土地精准扶贫的一个重要突破口,具有促进农村减贫的作用已经在地方实践中得到充分体现,为使土地整治减贫作用更加精准化,文章在土地整治精准扶贫思想的指导下,基于土地整治的多样性及贫困的多维特性构建了土地整治促进农村多维减贫的理论框架。[方法]在此基础上利用双重差分模型进行实证分析,对比分析了甘谷县贫困区实施土地整治前后及未实施的村中农户的自然资本、家庭人均收入、就业等的变化情况。[结果]土地整治的双重差分净效应D_(it)T_(it)均通过了显著性水平检验,系数β_3大于零。其中收入维度、社会维度、知识维度的净效应分别通过了1%、5%和10%的显著性水平检验。[结论](1)土地整治显著增加了农户的自然资本和家庭人均收入,逐步提高了农户的生产生活基础设施水平,增加和拓宽了农户获得技能培训机会和就业渠道。(2)土地整治具有多维减贫效应。其中,收入维度的减贫效应最为突出,社会维度和知识维度次之。(3)农户的家庭特征和村中的交通条件也是影响农户脱贫的重要影响因素。     

寻找改革的“突破口”——浙江地勘局第三地质大队劳动人事制度改革纪实

劳动人事制度改革是地勘单位转企改制的突破口.文章纪实性地介绍了浙江省地勘局第三地质大队劳动人事制度改革的情况,新型的劳动用工分配制度和劳动保险的社会统筹,使职工能进能出,干部能上能下落到了实处.新型劳动关系的建立,将使三队成为真正的企业,真正走向市场.     

累退税、土地市场与地权配置

研究目的:在土地市场存在的情况下,分析累退税制度对地权配置的影响。研究方法:历史文献、逻辑推理与案例比较。研究结果:(1)人头税与土地税实际上均与土地挂钩,导致了事实上的土地累退税;(2)明朝的士人优免制度形成了制度上的土地累退税;(3)豪强与权贵具有更强的逃税和避税能力,造成了事实上的土地累退税;(4)中国近年来具有土地规模累进特征的农业补贴制度,对地权配置的影响起到了与土地累退税类似的效果;(5)具有土地累退税特征的财税制度影响了土地市场运作,促进了地权集中,导致了效率和公平双重损失。研究结论:应改革具有土地规模累进特征的财政补贴政策,实现单位面积农业补贴的均等化。     

宅基地退出降低了农户的贫困脆弱性吗？ ——来自安徽金寨的证据

研究目的：探究宅基地退出在脆弱性视角下的减贫效应,厘清宅基地退出对农户贫困脆弱性的作用路径。研究方法：基于2019年安徽金寨的微观调研数据,构建广义可行最小二乘法模型,基于期望贫困对农户家庭贫困脆弱性进行测度,采用倾向得分匹配法检验宅基地退出的减贫效应,运用中介效应模型分析宅基地退出影响贫困脆弱性的传导机制。研究结果：（1）在现行贫困标准下,有18.66%的农户面临未来陷入贫困的风险;（2）宅基地退出具有显著减贫效应,能够有效降低农户未来陷入贫困的概率,通过PSM方法消除“自选择”偏误后结果依然稳健;（3）宅基地退出通过增加农户生计资本和改善生计策略来降低贫困脆弱性。研究结论：未来应进一步深化宅基地制度改革,完善宅基地退出与扶贫的联动机制,改进返贫预警的识别机制。     

Introduction: Contextualizing and Interrogating the GKI Case for Redistributive Land Reform

The GKI case for redistributive land reform is first contextualized historically: by considering its broad historical context that extends back to ancient times, and its more recent context, that of the effort to secure 'development' in poor countries in the post-1945 era. Two broad forms are briefly considered: tenurial reform and redistributive reform. The decline of land reform in policy agendas from the late 1960s onwards, and its recent reappearance are noted. That reappearance has included 'market friendly' reform, strongly pushed by the World Bank. It is in these contexts that the bold and radical GKI case for redistributive land reform has been made. A brief résumé of that case is provided. Thereafter, the nature of the interrogation of GKI by contributors to the special issue is outlined, this including treatment of the GKI methodological/ideological context. This interrogation covers a questioning of: the nature of their neo-populist/neo-classical logic and the theoretical problems associated therewith; the existence of an inverse relationship between land productivity and land size; the supposed impact on agricultural growth; the postulated effects of urban bias; and the ignoring of the 'real politics of land'. This encompasses treatment of Japan, Taiwan, China, former Soviet bloc countries, Southern Africa (with a focus on South Africa and Zimbabwe) and Bangladesh.