贫困地区农户大病风险处理策略研究(二)

疾病尤其是大病会对农户产生重大影响,农户在与其抗争的过程中已经形成了一系列缓解疾病风险冲击的策略.本文基于湖北两个贫困县的大样本农户调查数据,探讨贫困地区农户应对大病风险的策略类型和层次,并对策略的有效性进行评估.农户主要依赖自身资源、扩展家庭和社区资源系形成的非正规机制应对大病冲击;贫甲农户因受到非正规资源的限制,更需要来自正规机制的帮助.     

消费平滑、风险分担与完全保险——基于城镇家庭收支调查的实证研究

本文利用农户的面板数据评价京津风沙源治理工程的实施对当地农户收入的短期影响。分析了退耕还林强度、工程参与程度、村参与工程的时间对样本农户人均年收入的影响程度。分析结果表明:(1)工程参与对农户收入的影响为正向关系;(2)如果在村级早一年实施工程,则人均年收入提高17.37%;(3)实施退耕还林工程对消除贫困的影响尚考虑不足。本文利用农户的面板数据评价京津风沙源治理工程的实施对当地农户收入的短期影响。分析了退耕还林强度、工程参与程度、村参与工程的时间对样本农户人均年收入的影响程度。分析结果表明:(1)工程参与对农户收入的影响为正向关系;(2)如果在村级早一年实施工程,则人均年收入提高17.37%;(3)实施退耕还林工程对消除贫困的影响尚考虑不足。     

农村土地流转与农民收入——基于湖南邵阳市跟踪调研数据的研究

基于湖南邵阳市跟踪调研数据,运用双重差分计量经济模型研究农村土地流转与农民收入的关系,实证表明:农村土地流转后参与农户同未参与农户相比,农户人均纯收入、非农务工人均纯收入和农村土地出租人均纯收入都明显增加;农作物种植人均纯收入明显下降.农村土地流转后非农务工人均纯收入和农村土地出租对参与农户人均纯收入增长的贡献率高达76％,与农业的自然灾害和市场风险相比,该贡献具有一定的稳定性和持续性.     

贫困地区农户大病风险及其处理策略研究(一)

疾病尤其是大病对农户生计往往产生重大影响.农户家庭成员一旦患大病,不仅产生巨额的医疗费用支出,而且劳动时间损失可能引起收入下降.农户是风险规避者,在疾病发生前农户可能利用各种资源形成预防和缓解疾病风险的策略.本文基于湖北两个贫困县的大样本农户调查数据,估算贫困地区农户大病风险,探讨农户回避风险的策略类型及其有效性.大病农户的经济风险大,农户预防大病风险意识不强,收入多样化和参加医疗保险起到了一定的分散和转移大病风险的作用.     

农户采用有风险技术的意愿及影响因素研究

利用四川省509个农户的调查数据,运用多元Logit模型对农户采用有风险技术的意愿及其影响因素进行实证分析。研究表明:农户采用有风险技术的意愿受多种因素影响:农户的受教育程度、人均家庭纯收入、农产品商品率与农户采用有风险技术呈正相关关系;从事农业生产的年限与农户采用有风险技术呈负相关关系;农业技术培训随具体情况的不同与农户采用有风险技术呈双向相关关系。     

云南省近20年经济发展区域平衡性研究

选取人均GDP、农民年均纯收入和职工平均工资三个反映区域经济发展的指标为分析对象,以云南省16个州市为分析单元,利用年均复合增长率、相对发展指数、基于"基尼系数"的区域发展平衡度、R/S分析法等方法,对云南省近20年来的区域经济发展平衡程度及其未来变化趋势进行定量分析,研究结果表明:(1)云南省人均GDP、农民年均纯收入和职工平均工资稳步增长,但城乡收入差距呈不断扩大的趋势;(2)16个州市间的人均GDP相对发展指数差异较大,而农民人均纯收入、职工平均工资的相对发展指数差异较小;(3)16个州市间的人均GDP的历年平衡度较低但呈现较为明显的上升趋势,农民人均纯收入平衡度较高且呈现上升趋势,职工平均工资平衡度最高但总体呈缓慢下降趋势;(4)未来各州市间人均GDP和农民人均纯收入的区域差异将进一步缩小,职工平均工资区域差异仍将缓慢增大。研究成果对于客观认识云南省经济发展历程,以及为进一步研究其区域经济发展中如何平衡好公平与效率的关系奠定了基础。     

风险冲击对山区农户贫困的影响效应分析——基于广西、江西、湖北三省的农户调查

风险冲击是山区农户致贫的一个重要原因。本文基于广西、江西、湖北三省的574份山区农户调查数据,采用DEMATEL方法,从健康、教育、市场、就业、消费、自然、政策七个维度考察风险冲击对山区农户贫困的影响效应。研究表明:风险冲击对贫困的影响是一个复杂的过程,健康风险和市场风险在所有风险因素中处于中心位置,是影响山区农户贫困的关键因素。从不同贫困状态农户看,风险冲击对贫困的影响路径既有相同点,也有一定差异。其中,消费风险对其他风险的影响较高,对贫困有着间接的影响效应,属于过程性因素;教育、自然和政策风险受其他风险的影响较高,对贫困产生直接影响效应,属于结果性因素。健康和就业风险冲击对非贫困农户影响较大,市场风险冲击对贫困农户影响较大。     

健康冲击、家庭支出结构与农户收入

文章使用扩展的R&D模型分析了健康冲击对农户收入的影响机制,并用1989~2011年中国健康与营养调查的面板数据进行了实证检验。研究结果表明,健康冲击的发生使农户的健康人力资本下降,同时生产性支出减少,从长期来看物质资本积累和人力资本积累进一步下降,农户的收入下降。健康冲击使农户生产性支出的比重平均下降2.76%,农户的收入平均下降5.62%;与低年龄组农户相比,高年龄组农户的支出结构和收入水平受健康冲击的影响更大;当健康冲击发生时,高收入家庭生产性支出的比重下降幅度更大,收入水平下降程度也明显高于低收入家庭;参加医疗保险可以平滑健康冲击对农户家庭支出结构和农户收入的影响。     

农村患病人口分布特征及其影响环境——以河南省兰考县为例

收集了309个村庄1 766位大病患者等数据,利用Arc GIS软件,展示了河南省兰考县农村大病患者分布的空间分异,并进一步分析了影响这种格局的环境因素,得出如下结论:(1)大病患者的空间分布整体分散又局部集中,高发村庄多沿交通线呈带状分布,且具有行政边缘化的特征;(2)以本村患病率为因变量,选取本村贫困人口数、人均纯收入等9个指标作为自变量,通过散点图绘制、回归函数拟合、地理探测器分析,均展示了自变量变化对因变量变化有关联却无明显的关系,不足以解释村庄患病率的空间分异性;(3)影响农村患病的因素极为复杂,文章并未找到真正的地方性原因,这实际上是次生地方病的空间特征及其形成机理的合理、科学解释。     

农民收入增长缓慢的深层原因

农业、农村和农民问题是关系到国民经济发展和社会稳定的重要问题。其核心是农民收入。我国农村居民人均纯收入增长速度．“九五”期间比“八五”期间下降了6个百分点．分别是8．91％和2．89％(扣除物价因素)。这其中主要是农户家庭经营纯收入增幅下降所导致的．1998年是改革开放以来农户家庭经营纯收入出现的首次下降。在农村居民内部人均纯收入水平分配差异也逐年加大．半数以上农村居民人均纯收入仍处在平均水平以下。以中等收入组农户的人均纯收入水平为100．最低收入组与中等收入组和最高收入     

The Persistence of Income Shocks: Evidence from Rural Indonesia

This paper estimates the persistence of transient income shocks to farm households in rural Indonesia. Persistence is defined as the elasticity of a household's 1997 household per capita income with respect to its 1993 per capita income, controlling for time‐invariant characteristics of the household. Local rainfall levels are used as an exogenous source of transitory variation in 1993 income. Four main conclusions emerge. First, roughly 30% of household income shocks remain after four years. Second, the persistence of negative and positive shocks is approximately equal; if anything, positive shocks last longer. Third, neither positive nor negative income shocks disproportionately affect poor households. Finally, measurement error in income and unobserved household heterogeneity are important sources of bias. These findings cast doubt on common arguments advocating public intervention to stabilize or redistribute income, and suggest that anti‐poverty policy should address more permanent causes of household poverty.     

The role of education and household composition for transitory and permanent income inequality–evidence from PSID data

Transitory and permanent shocks to income have been shown to be important determinants of household consumption. This paper shows that there are significant differences in the trends of transitory and permanent income inequality between demographic groups since the 1980s. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, educational attainment and the composition of a household are found to play a key role. While permanent inequality increases steadily for educated households, it is flat over large parts of the sample period for the less educated households. Transitory inequality increases for all households headed by couples whereas it is constant for single households. Altogether, permanent shocks account for a larger part of the income variance of educated households whereas transitory shocks are relatively more important for the less educated. These results are able to shed light on the transmission of changes in income inequality to consumption inequality.     

A test of the household income process using consumption and wealth data

The evolution of household income can be explained almost equally well by rival models. However, rival models have very different implications for other household behaviours, such as consumption. I therefore test between two prominent models in the UK using panel data on consumption and wealth, as well as income, over 1991–2006. To operate the test, I show that long-lived income shocks transmit far less than one-for-one through to consumption, and particularly so for younger households. I then compare these estimates of transmission with estimates of households’ ability to smooth shocks, captured by the data on wealth. Conditional on the suitability of the consumption model, my estimates provide evidence against the restricted income process (RIP) and in favour of an alternative heterogeneous income process (HIP). This finding also explains why cross-sectional consumption inequality grew slowly over the period even though the variance of long-lived shocks was high. Finally, I conclude that it is important to consider mean reversion of shocks when constructing life-cycle consumption models.     

Do Savings and Credit Institutions Reduce Vulnerability? New Evidence From Mexico

This study examines whether membership in a savings and credit society (SACP) reduces vulnerability to poverty, using a representative survey from the National Savings and Financial Services Bank. The sample of households includes those that are and are not members of a SACP during 2004?2007. This evidence indicates that membership improves income; furthermore, membership decreases the variance in annual household per capita income. Both effects reduce the probability that somebody becomes poor. Finally, the results offer support for the proposition that households that join a SACP have better abilities to smooth consumption in the face of adverse shocks, and thus are less susceptible to shocks, than do households that are not members.     

Is life more risky in the open? Household risk-coping and the opening of China's labor markets

This paper uses a unique panel of data from rural China to analyze the impact of expanding connections to off-farm labor markets on the income and consumption of farm households. With stronger village ties to both migrant and local off-farm labor markets, households in previously autarkic village communities experience reduced exposure to shocks affecting agricultural production. The analyses presented in this paper control for the persistent effect of past shocks influencing income and consumption, household attrition potentially correlated with shocks, and endogeneity of household demographic composition, land holdings and village network connections to migrant and local labor markets.     

The surprisingly low importance of income uncertainty for precaution

While it is common to use income uncertainty to explain household saving decisions, there is much disagreement about the importance of precautionary saving. This paper suggests that income uncertainty is not an important motive for saving, although households do have other precautionary reasons to save. Using a question from the Survey of Consumer Finances that asks how much households want for precautionary purposes, this paper shows that expressed household preferences, and liquid savings, are much lower than predicted by standard modeling assumptions. Households rarely list unemployment as a reason to save. Perceived income uncertainty does not affect liquid savings or precautionary preferences. Neither does being in an occupation with higher income volatility. Instead, households seem very concerned with expenditure shocks.     

Changes in household composition as a shock-mitigating strategy

This paper uses data from the Russian Longitudinal Survey that span the two recent economic recessions of 1998 and 2008 to study the effect of declining incomes on household composition. We hypothesize that individuals face a trade-off between taking advantage of economies of scale and specialization when living with others, and individual privacy. Consumption smoothing is achieved by forgoing privacy during the crisis and results in increases in household size. Our empirical results suggest that members of households that experienced negative income shocks are more likely to move in with others compared to individuals residing in households whose income remained the same or increased.     

医疗保险与城乡反贫困:1989-2006

文章利用中国健康与营养调查(CHNS)数据,估计了1989-2006年医疗保险对中国城乡家庭的反贫困效应。结果发现:发生灾难性卫生支出的城乡家庭比例较高,最穷的群体其医疗费用超过收入的比例增加,医疗保险对减少收入不平等只起到微弱作用。TIP贫困曲线表明,近几年,医疗保险补偿后,城乡患病家庭的贫困并没有减轻,医疗保险在减少贫困上的作用很小。分析贫困特征的多元回归模型显示,家庭成员数量、教育程度、抚养比率、参保人数等都影响了贫困,而条件多元回归模型则显示,医疗保险对贫困的变动没有影响。     

Poverty Dynamics,Violent Conflict,and Convergence in Rwanda

This paper analyzes the poverty impact of the violent events that affected Rwanda in the 1990s. The main objective of the paper is to identify systematically potential mechanisms linking violent conflict with changes in poverty across provinces and households in Rwanda before and after a decade of violence. In accordance with emerging literature on the long‐term economic effects of violent conflict, we find empirical evidence for economic convergence between richer and poorer Rwandan provinces and households following the conflict shocks. Using a small but unique panel of households surveyed before and after the conflict period, we find that households whose house was destroyed or who lost land ran a higher risk of falling into poverty. We do not find much evidence for an economic effect of violent deaths at the household level due to substitution effects of labor within the household. Non‐violent deaths however seem to increase income per adult equivalent for the survivors. Results are shown to be robust to sample selection and IV models.     

Effects of Economic Shocks on Children's Employment and Schooling in Brazil

This paper uses longitudinal employment survey data to analyze the impact of household economic shocks on the schooling and employment transitions of young people in metropolitan Brazil. The paper uses data on over 100,000 children ages 10-16 from Brazil's Monthly Employment Survey (PME) from 1982 to 1999. Taking advantage of the rotating panels in the PME, we compare households in which the male household head becomes unemployed during a four-month period with households in which the head is continuously employed. Probit regressions indicate that an unemployment shock significantly increases the probability that a child enters the labor force, drops out of school, and fails to advance in school. The effects can be large, implying increases of as much as 50% in the probability of entering employment for 16-year-old girls. In contrast, shocks occurring after the school year do not have significant effects, suggesting that these results are not due to unobserved characteristics of households that experience unemployment shocks. The results suggest that some households are not able to absorb short-run economic shocks, with negative consequences for children.