How Has Rural Tax Reform Affected Farmers and Local Governance in China？

Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China's ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers' tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy.     

论当前我国可持续消费文化的建构

可持续消费是可持续发展研究的一个重要内容，也是实现可持续发展的重要机制之一。可持续消费文化本质上就是要强调人与社会、人与人、人与自然、人与文化协调一致发展。文章基于社会问题本质上是一种社会建构产物的观点，从消费社会学视角探讨了转型期我国建构可持续消费文化的基本条件及其社会文化机制问题。     

完善农户商事主体制度与发展农村市场

解决“三农”问题的重要途径在于发展农村市场，广大农民是农村市场最重要的主体。然而，农户作为农村集体经济组织的成员——农村承包经营户，依照我国现行《民法通则》、《农村土地承包法》等规定，是一种民事法律关系的主体，享有民事权利和承担民事义务。在我国市场经济条件下的商事法律中，关于农民、农户在农村市场的商事经营主体资格的制度设计比较缺乏，从而在一定程度上制约了农民的市场行为。为了充分调动广大农民积极性，更好地建设和发展农村市场，有必要完善农户商事经营主体资格的法律制度。     

Mining and Social Movements: Struggles Over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes

Social movements have been viewed as vehicles through which the concerns of poor and marginalized groups are given greater visibility within civil society, lauded for being the means to achieve local empowerment and citizen activism, and seen as essential in holding the state to account and constituting a grassroots mechanism for promoting democracy. However, within development studies little attention has been paid to understanding how social movements can affect trajectories of development and rural livelihood in given spaces, and how these effects are related to movements’ internal dynamics and their interaction with the broader environment within which they operate. This paper addresses this theme for the case of social movements protesting contemporary forms of mining investment in Latin America. On the basis of cases from Peru and Ecuador, the paper argues that the presence and nature of social movements has significant influences both on forms taken by extractive industries (in this case mining) and on the effects of this extraction on rural livelihoods. In this sense, one can usefully talk about rural development as being co-produced by movements, mining companies, and other actors, in particular the state. The terms of this co-production, however, vary greatly among different locations, reflecting the distinct geographies of social mobilization and of mineral investment, as well as the varying power relationships among the different actors involved.     

Choice of Distribution System in the New Zealand Life Insurance Industry

Using 1988–93 panel data drawn from the New Zealand life insurance industry, this paper examines empirically the notion that the choice of distribution system is an efficient contracting solution to incentive conflicts between owners, managers and sales agents in life insurance firms. Consistent with what was hypothesised, the empirical results suggest that choice of distribution system is distinguished by organisational form, firm size, and sales commission. However, contrary to expectations, the variables representing product diversity and asset specificity were found not to be statistically significant. The empirical results thus lend mixed support for prior predictions.     

The economics of land transfer and title insurance

In the presence of uncertainty over the title of land (due to fraud or error), a legal system can protect either the current (innocent) owner, or a previous owner who claims title. The predominant system in the United States generally awards title to the latter in the event of legitimate claim. Thus, current owners frequently purchase title insurance to provide indemnification in the event of a loss. In contrast, the Torrens system awards title to the current owner, but provides for indemnification of any legitimate claimants. We evaluate these two systems and argue that if transaction costs are low, both promote efficient assignment of title (according to the Coase Theorem), but if transaction costs are high, the Torrens system is more likely to award title to the party that values it the most (namely, the current possessor).     

中国农村金融组织生存、变迁及发展

由于农业的弱质性及在国民经济发展中的基础地位，农村金融组织在农村经济及整个国民经济稳定发展中发挥着不可或缺的作用。中国农村金融组织也有一个生存、发展的制度变迁过程。本文在研究了合作经济及农村金融组织在农村经济发展中的作用的基础上，重点研究了法国的农村金融体系在法国国民经济中的作用，并进一步探讨了中国农村金融组织的生存条件、制度变迁及发展。     

Efficient Liability Rules: Complete Characterization

Received May, 18, 2000; revised version received March, 19, 2001     

农业院校促进乡镇经济发展的个案研究

在知识就是第一生产力的今天，乡镇经济的发展已不仅是地方政府、乡镇企业的责任，农业院校在履行其育人、科研功能的同时，更应该发挥其服务社会的功能，为乡镇、县域经济的发展起到巨大的带动、推进作用。文章以位于吉林市昌邑区左家镇的吉林农业科技学院为例，分析农业院校在自身发展壮大的同时对所在地方经济的促进作用，将有高等教育辐射的左家镇与没有高等教育辐射的土门岭镇在人均收入、农林牧渔各项产值等方面进行比较，用翔实、准确的数字表明：农业院校是促进乡镇经济快速发展的主力军。     

试论新制度经济学与中国体制改革的契合

中国正在经历一个制度变迁的时代。新制度经济学对中国体制改革实践有很强的解释力和指导性，它与马克思主义经济学在机理上的相通及其与中国的传统政治文化的契合促进了它在中国的进一步发展。中国正处于一个制度变迁的时代，新旧体制转轨使中国有了对新的经济制度变革理论的强烈需要。新制度经济学适应了这种需求，对中国体制改革实践有很强的解释力和指导性。新制度经济学与马克思主义政治经济学有相通之处，这有利于发展新制度经济学，也有利于中国经济理论的衔接和发展。中国的传统政治文化与新制度经济学理论的契合，既有利于新制度经济学的传播，也有利于中国体制改革的进一步发展。