广西农村居民最低生活保障制度探究——基于发展型社会政策的视角

广西农村居民最低生活保障制度在2007年之后得到了很快的发展,但是制度还是存在着种种缺失和局限。因此,有必要借鉴发展型社会政策以突破传统社会政策的局限,从政策价值体系、政策制定、政策内容和政策的行动系统等方面寻找完善优化广西农村低保政策的新的理念和政策思路。     

Sowing the Seeds of Reason in the Field of the Terminator Debate

In an effort to restrict seed piracy in the global agricultural market, Monsanto intends to implement some form of genetic use restriction technology (GURT). Regarding such intentions, many activist groups adamantly contend that Monsanto will be acting immorally if GURTs, specifically Terminator Technology (TT), are implemented in the global agricultural market. They argue that the potential implementation of TT is immoral because it threatens to infringe upon the rights of resource-poor farmers (mainly in developing countries) by denying them the ability to save the seed derived from their harvests. While there may be ways that the implementation of TT can be construed as wrong, I narrowly argue that Monsanto will not be wrongfully infringing upon the basic rights of resource-poor farmers if it actually implements TT. Moreover, as long as Monsanto takes the appropriate measures to minimize the possible negative effects that TT may have on resource-poor farmers, and allows these farmers to make an autonomous choice to use seed that contains this technology, Monsanto’s possible implementation of TT cannot be accurately considered to instantiate an immoral violation of basic rights.     

How the poor in a developing country view business' contribution to quality-of-life 5 years after a national economic crisis

This study proposes and tests a three-step model of business' contribution to quality of life 5 years after a devastating national economic crisis in a developing country. The model incorporates both a beneficent dimension of the marketplace (represented by consumer attitude toward marketing — CATM) and a non-maleficent dimension (represented by consumer trust for market-related institutions — CTMRI). This study compares how the poor and the non-poor draw differently on these two dimensions in forming their perceptions about how business contributes to their quality of life. Beginning with the exogenous construct attitude toward changes in marketing practices since the last economic crisis (5 years ago), this study 1) proposes a causal model that introduces a first-order construct — Business' Contribution to My Quality of Life (BCM-QOL), and 2) explains how BCM-QOL serves as a mediator between marketplace perceptions of both beneficence and non-maleficence and quality of life. Results reveal differences between how the poor and the non-poor in a developing country think about the effects of market changes after an economic crisis. Consumers living below the Turkish poverty line, although not within the UN-defined ranks of the global poor (e.g., $2 per-day earnings) tend to see their place in the market in a manner similar to subsistence consumers.     

A Quantile Regression Analysis of the Effect of Farmers’ Attitudes and Perceptions on Market Participation

The objective of this study is to investigate the subjective determinants of farmers’ participation in output markets in five EU New Member States (NMS) characterised by large semi‐subsistence sectors. It employs quantile regression to model market participation reflecting the heterogeneity amongst farmers. The study also uses the Bayesian adaptive lasso to simultaneously select important covariates and estimate the corresponding quantile regression models. The empirical results show that only two variables affect all quantiles, while their effect varies across quantiles. Some of the remaining variables affect the share of output sold at the lower quantiles (i.e. for subsistence‐ and semi‐subsistence‐oriented farmers) only, whereas other variables are only significant at the upper quantiles (i.e. for more commercially oriented farms). Advisory services, and particularly agricultural business advice, and information and advice on markets and prices can facilitate the market participation of subsistence‐oriented farms.     

Agricultural sustainability of small-scale farms in Lacluta,Timor Leste

Despite the trend of dwindling productivity, tribal people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) still practise shifting cultivation as a dominant hill farming system to support their livelihood. Drawing on an empirical study in Khagrachari district of the CHT, this research examined how far the production from present shifting cultivation supports the tribal people's livelihood and what alternative livelihood strategies they have adopted for subsistence by using data on input/output and income/expenditures, and analysing current government policies. The findings showed that productivity declined markedly, yields were almost equal to input values and farmers experienced food shortages for at least two to six months in a year. To make a living, farmers have adopted new occupations such as wage labour, animal husbandry, cultivation of annual monocrops and extraction and selling of forest products. Policy analysis indicates that previous policies were unable to reduce shifting cultivation intensity or improve tribal people's livelihoods or the region's forest resources. Reorientation of government policies, easy access to institutional support and the active participation of local people in development intervention are of the utmost importance in order to find alternative land uses for sustainable hill farming, to improve the farmer's living standards and to conserve forests and protect watersheds.     

Poverty as we never knew it: THE source of vulnerability for most of humankind

ABSTRACT

Most of humankind lives in poverty. Over 1.2 billion people survive on less than $1.25 per day, and around 2.7 billion people survive on less than $2.50 per day. Of course, these statistics do not take into account those living in relative poverty within the very highest development nations in the world. Yet few within entitled sectors of the global economy have had much to do with people living in poverty, except for occasional and indirect contact. Even basic ideas about poverty lack clarity; for example, what is the line between poor and not poor both within and among countries? Is it only about income or do other resources matter or act as substitutes for money when impoverished consumers engage their markets? Is poverty in the USA the same or different than poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa? Answers to such questions are provided in this commentary through an examination of three different research projects conducted in poverty communities. Together, they reveal distinct patterns of results between more affluent and more impoverished consumers across the globe.     

甘肃省农村最低生活保障制度下的人数和资金测算

资金供应是决定能否和如何建立农村最低生活保障制度体系的重要因素。本文基于全国目前的低保情况及甘肃省情,在横向和纵向两个方面描述的基础之上,对甘肃省建立和完善农村最低生活保障制度的人数和资金进行了测算,以期为政策制定和资金预算提供依据。     

城市居民最低生活保障制度的现状和对策

通过对城市居民最低生活保障制度历史沿革的回顾,发现我国城市居民最低生活保障制度在实施过程中存在东西部发展不平衡,最低生活保障线、社会保险、最低工资标准三个标准不连接,保障对象的隐性收入难以统计等问题。提出完善城市居民最低生活保障制度应加强制度建设,制定和落实与低保相配套的的救助政策,在保证城市居民最低生活保障政策连续性、稳定性的基础上确立城市居民最低生活保障标准。     

Marketplace literacy education and coping behaviors among subsistence consumer–entrepreneurs during demonetization in India

We study the impact of marketplace literacy education on marketplace coping behaviors in the face of systemic shock due to demonetization, deriving important implications for consumer affairs from this radically distinct context. We study whether and how such education can have positive impact even in the face of such macrolevel disruption that disproportionately affects those with the least resources and renders them even more vulnerable. Marketplace literacy education encompasses awareness and knowledge about marketing as well as self‐confidence and awareness of rights as buyers and sellers. We examine the influence of marketplace literacy in urban and rural areas on coping behaviors of low‐income women consumer–entrepreneurs during demonetization in India, using a retrospective survey. We derive implications to mitigate the effect of future shocks on consumers and entrepreneurs at the vulnerable end of the income spectrum.     

Exploring the impact of mobile money services on marketing interactions in relation to consumer well-being in subsistence marketplaces – lessons from rural Cambodia

Abstract

The mobile phone has increasingly become a channel for providing access to formal financial services. There is a need to understand how financial service offerings, increasingly accessed through mobile phones, impact marketing interactions, specifically marketing exchange activities and social network relationships, to enhance consumer well-being (CWB) in subsistence marketplaces. Through interviews and contextualised observational research in rural Cambodia, findings reveal that the impacts of mobile money services on marketing interactions in relation to CWB can be categorised at two distinct levels. The first-level impact is the actual physical money transfer transactions as part of the marketing exchange activities which leads to the second-level impact on the social network relationships at interpersonal, social group and cultural levels. Drawing from these insights, policy-makers and industry stakeholders can formulate strategies and develop innovative service offerings through mobile phone technology to enhance CWB in subsistence marketplaces.