What are the Determinants of Large‐scale Farming in China?

The Chinese Government has increased its focus on expanding farm scale to promote agricultural development since 2010. A series of favorable polices has been adopted to support large‐scale farming. Using a multivariate probit model and 2015 and 2016 rural household survey data, the present paper examines the factors that influence small farmers' decision to become large‐scale farmers. The empirical regression results suggest that the decision to become a large‐scale farmer is significantly influenced by household human capital, cooperative membership, marketing channels, land‐transfer contracts and government policies. However, the influence of these factors differs with respect to becoming large‐scale grain and non‐grain farmers. These results imply that policy tools should target these factors and the appropriate group of small‐scale farmers. Generally, both central and local governments should promote large‐scale farming by enhancing rural households' human capital, improving marketing channels and providing agricultural social services, as well as encouraging returning migrant workers to engage in large‐scale farming.     

Efficiency or equity? The effect of an exogenous agricultural commercial shock: Evidence from Manchuria in the 1930s

The adoption of high-value cash crops (HVCs) is considered an efficient way to improve farmers' productivity and welfare, although the systematic empirical evidence is limited. By exploiting an exogenous commercial shock for soybeans and microlevel rural survey data from Manchuria of China in the 1930s, where factor markets were relatively well functioning, this study investigates the influence of HVC cultivation on farmers' agricultural performance, welfare, and inequality both theoretically and empirically. We find that (i) larger farms devote a larger proportion of land to HVCs and that (ii) farmers who cultivate a larger proportion of HVCs have higher agricultural productivity, profit, net income, and expenditure. Furthermore, the adoption of HVCs lowers profit, income, and expenditure inequality by enhancing income from wages relative to land rents, which benefits households with less land.     

Old Age Security： A Case from Rural Suzhou

I. Introduction A traditional pattern of old age support in the rural society of China can be characterized asthat of a family taking full responsibility in caring for its elderly. During the 1950s, a “Five Guarantee System” was established in the People’s Communes for protecting those who have no kin and cannot support themselves, with the guarantee of food, clothing, housing, medical treatment and burial expenses. Moreover, in the cases where poor villages could not meet the basic need…     

家庭生计资本对茶农扩大种植规模意愿的影响及其机理研究

基于江西省鄱阳县542户茶叶种植户调查数据，通过二元Probit模型分析茶农生计资本对其扩大种植规模意愿的影响及异质性，构建Bootstrap中介效应模型探求茶农生计资本对其扩大种植规模意愿的影响机理。研究表明，茶农生计资本对其扩大种植规模意愿具有显著的正向影响；茶农生计资本对其扩大种植规模意愿作用影响具有异质性，对女性及60岁以上的茶农影响更为明显；经济利益感知、社会利益感知与生态利益感知在茶农生计资本对其扩大种植规模意愿作用影响关系中发挥着部分中介效应并且中介作用由高到低依次下降。据此建议多方面提高茶农生计资本，加大企业带动就业、绿色生产、品牌效应宣传和推广力度，增加茶农利益感知效果，促使茶农进一步扩大种植规模，为乡村茶产业振兴提速升级。     

Does Security of Land Operational Rights Matter for the Improvement of Agricultural Production Efficiency under the Collective Ownership in China?

Under the “separation of three rights” policy, the impact of security of land operational rights on agricultural production efficiency has attracted much attention in recent years. Data envelopment analysis and mediation effect analysis were applied to 888 family farms run by new‐type agricultural operators from Songjiang to identify the mechanism of the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency through long‐term investment. The results show that greater security of land operational rights generally increased agricultural production efficiency. Approximately 37.94 percent of the impact could be explained by long‐term investment. The results also indicate that significant heterogeneity exists in the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency at various levels of the family farms’ efficiency distributions. It is suggested that government should legalize land operational rights and give them a status equal to those of households’ contractual rights and land ownership rights in China's future land tenure reform.     

农民分化、代际差异与土地流转意愿的影响

土地是作为中国农业农村最基础的产出要素,它不仅可以满足人们就业需求,还可以提高农民收入以及增强社会保障等多种用途。基于山东省422份调研数据,通过Heckman模型阐明了农民分化、代际差异对土地流转意愿的影响。通过实证分析表明,农民分化对土地流转意愿具有正向的影响;与老一代农民相比新生代农民更愿意进行土地流转。根据研究结果,针对不同分化程度、不同代际差异的农民提出了精准性建议,以提高农民的土地流转的意愿。     

Policy Options for China＇s Bio-ethanol Development and the Implications for Its Agricultural Economy

The present paper analyzes the potential impacts of bio-ethanol expansion on agricultural production, food prices and farmers＇ incomes in different regions of China. The results show that increase in demand for feedstock to produce bio-ethanol will lead to large increase in the prices of agricultural products. The increase in prices will trigger a significant rise in the production of feedstock at the cost of lower rice and wheat production. The study also reveals that the impacts of bio-ethanol on farmers＂ incomes vary largely among regions and farmer groups. Given the expected expansion of bio-ethanol production in the future, and the limited land resources for feedstock production in China, the viability of different crops as feedstock for bio-ethanol requires careful analysis before a large-scale expansion of China＇s bio-ethanol program. Bio-ethanol production in China should be relying more on the second generation of bio-ethanol technologies （i.e. using celluloses to produce bio-ethanol）, and China＇s government should increase research investment in this field.     

Analysis of Farmers' Preferences for Development Intervention Programs: A Case Study of Subsistence Farmers from East Ethiopian Highlands

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to better understand farmers' perception of the relevance of different development intervention programs. Farmers' subjective ranking of agricultural problems and their preference for development intervention are elicited using a stated preference method. The factors influencing these preferences are determined using a random utility model. The study is based on a survey conducted in the Hunde‐Lafto area of the East Ethiopian Highlands. Individual interviews were conducted with 145 randomly selected farm households using semi‐structured questionnaires. The study suggests that drought, soil erosion and shortage of cultivable land are high priority agricultural production problems for farmers. Low market prices for farm products and high prices of purchased inputs also came out as major problems for the majority of farmers. Farmers' preferences for development intervention fall into four major categories: market, irrigation, resettlement, and soil and water conservation. Multinomial logit analysis of the factors influencing these preferences revealed that farmer's specific socio‐economic circumstances and subjective ranking of agricultural problems play a major role. It is also shown that preferences for some interventions are complementary and need to be addressed simultaneously. Recognition and understanding of these factors, affecting the acceptability of development policies for micro level implementation, will have a significant contribution to improve macro level policy formulation.     

Farmers and Middlemen in a Transmigration Area in Indonesia 1

Compared with long-settled lava, transmigration areas in the outer islands of Indonesia are characterised by an underdeveloped transportation and communication infrastructure that makes farmers' access to markets relatively difficult. In this case study, however, no significant difference was found in either marketing margins or middleman profits between a transmigration area in Sumatra and a long-settled area m West Java. High risk and transaction costs, associated with long-distance trade under poor infrastructure, together with delays in the issue of formal land titles to transmigrant settlers, operate as entry barriers to marketing activities. These negative factors in the transmigation area are largely compensated for by the larger marketable agricultural surplus per farm, which has the effect of reducing transportation and transaction costs.     

Exports as an indicator on or promoter of successful swedish manufacturing firms in the 1990s

We study the link between exports and productivity at the firm level. Like in previous studies we get support for the hypothesis that more productive firms self-select into the export market. In addition, and contrary to many of the former studies, we also obtain evidence that exporting further increases firm productivity. Exporting firms appear to have significantly higher productivity than nonexporting. Moreover, exporters—mainly firms that increase their export intensities—have higher output growth than nonexporters. Reallocation of resources between firms may then have contributed to overall manufacturing productivity growth. Hence, we try to quantify the importance of reallocation. JEL no. F10, D24     

Exports as an indicator on or promoter of successful swedish manufacturing firms in the 1990s

We study the link between exports and productivity at the firm level. Like in previous studies we get support for the hypothesis that more productive firms self-select into the export market. In addition, and contrary to many of the former studies, we also obtain evidence that exporting further increases firm productivity. Exporting firms appear to have significantly higher productivity than nonexporting. Moreover, exporters—mainly firms that increase their export intensities—have higher output growth than nonexporters. Reallocation of resources between firms may then have contributed to overall manufacturing productivity growth. Hence, we try to quantify the importance of reallocation. JEL no. F10, D24     

The Land Tenure System and its Saving and Investment Mechanism: The Case of Modern China*

The new land tenure system represents a compromise between efficiency and equality. On the one hand, the privatization of land use rights has eliminated the type of free-rider problem observed under the commune system; on the other hand, egalitarianism reduced the transaction costs when land was first allocated to farmers after the dismantling of the commune system. However, this study shows that the main challenge to the efficiency and sustainability of the system is the task of developing a voluntary savings and investment mechanism to fill the vacuum left by the compulsory one that the commune system once had. The frequent reallocation or readjustment of village land, as is required by the system in response to the relative population changes among households, makes farmers feel insecure in their land use rights and agricultural investment, and leads to distortion in their investment and consumption.     

资源配置、全要素生产率与农业经济增长愿景

对2004~2010年我国不同地区农业的资源配置扭曲情况的分析表明:由于"二元经济"的影响,我国农业的资本和劳动存在着明显的跨部门配置扭曲。如能有效消除此类扭曲,我国农业TFP能提高6%~36%。各地区的资源再配置效应对农业TFP增长率有着显著影响,并且各地区的资源再配置效应存在明显差异。对全国各个地区而言,土地资源再配置效应都是影响农业资源再配置效应的主要因素,资本和劳动再配置效应则相对较弱。由此可见,促进城乡资本和劳动力市场一体化以及进一步完善农村土地流转市场是现阶段降低农业资源配置扭曲、促进农业TFP增长的主要途径。     

EMPLOYMENT,CAPITAL, AND PRODUCTIVITY DYNAMICS: EVIDENCE FROM THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN URUGUAY

Using a sample of Uruguayan manufacturing establishments we analyze employment, capital, and productivity dynamics over a period of currency appreciation; changes in trade policy; and changes in the institutional setting of wage negotiations. As the relative capital–labor price ratio fell, capital intensity increased. At the same time, there was an increase in labor and total factor productivity. Creation and destruction rates were relatively high and pervasive over time, sectors, establishment size, and establishment age, with exits explaining a sizeable part of destruction rates. Most of the excess reallocation was due to movements “within” rather than “between” sectors. Thus, high reallocation rates were linked to establishment‐level heterogeneity rather than aggregate shocks.     

Impact of land tenure policy on agricultural investments in China: Evidence from a panel data study

The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of changes in China's rural land policy on agricultural investments. Dramatic changes occurred in China's rural land policies after 2000, including the extension of rural land contractual period, restriction of land reallocation among villages and villagers groups, elimination of agricultural taxes for responsibility land, and rapid development of rural land rental markets. These changes have given farmers more secure tenure on collectively controlled responsibility land and have strengthened farmers' income rights for responsibility lands, incentivizing them to increase their investments on responsibility lands. A panel data method was used to quantitatively investigate the impact of land policy changes on agricultural investment. We considered the application of organic fertilizer as an indicator for long-term agricultural investment, and compared the use of organic fertilizer between private plots and responsibility lands operated by the same household. The results showed that the difference in organic fertilizer use between private plots and responsibility land for the same household has become smaller from 2000 to 2008. Our findings suggest that recent changes in rural land policies have provided farmers incentives to increase land quality investment on their responsibility lands.     

Gender Inequalities and Economic Efficiency: New Evidence from Cassava‐based Farm Holdings in Rural South‐western Nigeria

Abstract: It is a widely accepted fact that persistent inequality between men and women constrains a society's productivity and ultimately slows its rate of economic growth. The economy pays for this inequality in reduced labour productivity today and diminished national output tomorrow. Motivated by this, the study aim is to assess the possibilities of enhancing productivity gains by improving the efficiency of small‐scale agriculture through gender‐responsive intra‐household allocation of resources in south‐western Nigeria. The study adopts a stochastic parametric decomposition method which yields efficiency measures that are not distorted by statistical noise to estimate the efficiency level of resource allocation by small‐scale cassava producers. The results indicate that average overall productive efficiency in the sample was 75.78 per cent, implying that small‐scale cassava farmers in the sample could reduce total variable cost by 24.22 per cent if they reduce labour, fertilizer, land and capital applications to levels observed in the changing input mix (technical efficiency) and then obtain optimal input mix for the given input prices and technology (allocative efficiency). The average technical efficiency and allocative efficiency indexes for the sample were 82.2 per cent and 92.2 per cent respectively. Also, evidence from empirical analysis of data from the male respondents showed that the average economic, technical and allocative efficiency indexes were 88.06 per cent, 89.34 per cent and 78.67 per cent respectively while the same computed for the female sample were 94.9 per cent, 74.85 per cent and 71.03 per cent respectively. Labour was the most limiting factor in cassava production suggesting that the technologies that enhance the productivity of labour are likely to achieve significant positive effects on cassava production. The paper shares the notion that producers' control over the means of production and impact of development are related and has influence on the economic efficiency and growth of society. Again, technical inefficiency constituted a more serious problem than allocative inefficiency, thus most cost savings will accrue to improvement in technical efficiency.     

Economies of size in sugar cane production in KwaZulu‐Natal

This article examines how efficiency of resource use on sugar cane farms varies with the size of a farm business, and what implications variations in performance may hold for the reallocation of resources between size‐groups in the pursuit of land redistribution. A non‐parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) research procedure is employed to analyse farm‐size efficiency using inputs valued at opportunity cost. Results indicate that sugar cane farms producing less than 500 tons of cane exhibit substantial economies of size, and require significantly more resources to produce a rand's worth of output than farms producing more than 2 500 tons of cane. Therefore, if commercial farms are subdivided in the land resettlement programme, significant loss of efficiency may occur if the resettled farms produce less than 500 tons. Finally, results of an econometric model suggest significant links between scale efficiency and farmers’ education, managerial adeptness, training, age, and the size of farm holdings.     

EXPORTING AND PRODUCTIVITY: A FIRM‐LEVEL ANALYSIS OF THE TAIWAN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

Based on the panel data of Taiwanese electronics firms, this paper explores the relationship between exporting and productivity. Contemporaneous levels of exports and productivity are indeed positively correlated. The causality tests show causality from productivity to exporting and vice versa, implying that self‐selection and learning‐by‐exporting effects coexist in the Taiwan electronics industry, while the learning‐by‐exporting effect is less supported. Exporting also has a positive impact on the productivity growth of firms, while the effect diminishes gradually after entering foreign markets. Decomposing the productivity growth shows that the reallocation effect accounts for only 20 per cent compared to the own‐effect share of 80 per cent, which is mostly contributed by firms that continually export.     

社会认同、环境认知与农户绿色生产行为

基于江西省微观农户调查数据，用有序Probit模型考察社会认同对农户绿色生产行为采纳的影响，检验环境认知在二者间的中介效应及异质性分析。结果表明：社会认同对农户绿色生产行为采纳程度有显著正向影响；环境认知在社会认同对农户绿色生产行为采纳程度具有部分中介效应；异质性分析发现，环境认知对老年组和男性农户具有显著影响，而对非老年组和女性农户未起到显著影响。社会认同对老年组农户更具有显著影响。据此提出培育农户环境认知、激发农户主体意识、加强政策引导宣传等建议。     

Reallocating wealth? Insecure property rights and agricultural investment in rural China

This paper evaluates the impact of village-level land reallocations in China on household economic outcomes. The primary objective is to analyze the effect of short-term differences in tenure security in the year of a reallocation, employing the past history of land shifts as a source of exogenous variation in current tenure security. The results show that a decrease in the probability of losing the current plot yields an increase in agricultural inputs and production with no change in non-agricultural investments, conditional on household fixed effects that control for any unobserved and time-invariant characteristics of the household. This suggests that even small increases in the security of tenure enjoyed by households could yield benefits in terms of greater agricultural output.