The Impact of Farmland Transfers on Agricultural Investment in China: A Perspective of Transaction Cost Economics

There is growing concern that farmland transfers lead to less agricultural investment, which may adversely affect agricultural productivity growth in China. Prior research has primarily focused on the differences between owned cultivated land and rented plots, but little is known about how farmland transfers between relatives, which are popular in rural China, specifically affect agricultural investment. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework of transaction cost economics to compare different contracting strategies in China's farmland rental markets. As farmland rental markets in China are immature, land transfer between relatives establishes bilateral governance, which has the advantage of addressing the opportunistic activities of both parties and can ultimately increase investment by tenants. Based on data from two waves of household surveys, we empirically examine the impact of bilateral governance on the application of organic fertilizer, an indicator for agricultural investment. Our findings show that apart from economic factors, kinship is important to the functioning of farmland rental markets in rural areas.     

Retaining a diverse workforce: the impact of gender‐focused human resource management

Demography theory suggests that high gender diversity leads to high turnover. As turnover is costly, we tested the following: a main effect prediction derived from demography theory, and a moderating effect prediction derived from the relational framework. Data on 198 publicly listed organisations were collected through a human resources decision‐maker survey and archival databases. The results indicate that higher gender diversity leads to lower turnover in organisations with many gender‐focused policies and practices. Findings suggest that organisations can lower their turnover rates by increasing their gender diversity and by implementing gender‐focused policies and practices.     

林权流转主导模式与制度创新

顶层制度上受相似的基本的社会条件制约,集体林权流转进而也期待形成"三权分离"的经营格局。但是,由林地、林权本身特性决定的物权式流转的主导模式,将导致林农承包权的退出。基此,通过经验与规范实证的结合分析,诸如林下经营权及其流转等有关制度性措施、实践的意义与价值及其局限性可被清晰认知,进而制度供给仍有不足也被问题化。欲有所作为并能有效应对,则林权流转在普通的方式之外,可考虑引入典权制度。而典权是一种均衡的制度安排,兼顾了社会实质正义。     

How useful is an Asian Currency Unit (ACU) index for surveillance in East Asia?

An Asian Currency Unit (ACU) index is constructed using an alternative procedure which minimizes a basket or portfolio of assets expressed in terms of national currencies. Using this estimated ACU index and an ACU deviation indicator, the main finding of this study based on the current trajectory of East Asian currencies relative to this regional ACU benchmark is that there is a formation of two contrasting groups of countries in the region—one group of strong currencies and one group of weak currencies. We emphasize that this contrasting trajectory in East Asian intra-regional exchange rates implies disturbed competitive trading relationships in the region, which may result in wasteful beggar-thy-neighbor policies. As emphasized in other recent studies (e.g., Kawai and Takagi, 2012), the region needs a framework for exchange rate policy coordination that will promote intra-regional exchange rate stability. We suggest two important ways in which the region can capitalize on using an ACU index for surveillance purposes in the immediate term. One way is to assess “over- and undervaluation” of individual currencies from the regional ACU average. The other is to use it as a monitoring device for excessive flows of international capital within the region.     

集体建设用地市场化进程：现实选择与理论思考

研究目的:现有文献对集体建设用地市场化改革的现实模式选择和路径演化归纳还相对薄弱。本文旨在基于观察不同类型集体建设用地(包括宅基地、经营性建设用地、公共基础设施用地以及征地)的市场化改革典型路径的基础上,探索不同模式在提升建设用地经济效率上殊途同归的共性规律,为城乡统一建设用地市场提供理论支撑。研究方法:案例分析与比较研究。研究结果:总结了本轮集体建用地市场化改革起点,刻画了宅基地、征地、统筹和入市4类市场化的典型模式或特殊现象,并对集体建设用地市场化规律做了初步探索。研究结论:集体建设用地市场化的现实路径是渐进式的"由点及面"的改革,现阶段改革创新需要关注三类收益分配问题,政府的规划和收益调节政策是地方探索市场化亟需的基础性规则,政府还应尽快对市场化中的各项权利开展立法工作。     

Bilateral redistribution

We explore the implications of three basic and intuitive axioms for income redistribution problems: continuity, no transfer paradox and stability. The combination of the three axioms characterizes in the two-agent case a large family of rules, which we call threshold rules. For each level of total income in society, a threshold is considered for each agent. It is impossible for both agents to be below their respective thresholds. If an agent’s income is below the threshold, the difference is redistributed from the other agent; otherwise, the rule imposes laissez-faire.     

The State as Both Regulator and Player: The Politics of Transfer of Development Rights in China

The conventional argument that the introduction of transfer of development rights (TDR) shifts the power of land use regulation from the state to the market is increasingly under challenge. In China, the state's grip on land is reinforced through TDR, in which the state is both regulator and player. This state-dominated form of TDR affects China in three ways. First, competing aspirations of different scales of government complicate how TDR is implemented. Although the central state promotes TDR to maintain a national balance of arable land, some local states instrumentalize it to expand their landed basis of accumulation. Secondly, TDR tends to benefit the state but not its people. It may increase the fiscal income of the sending government and lessen the land shortage of the receiving government, but sometimes at the expense of the interests of land users without land ownership. Thirdly, given the state's deep involvement in TDR programs, the key for China's TDR to protect arable land lies not so much in clear property rights or a fully fledged market as in effective checks and balances regarding the state's powers over TDR. These three observations attest to the embeddedness of TDR in the local political economy.     

Corporate commitment to climate change action,carbon risk exposure,and a firm's debt financing policy

Motivated by the rising consensus that corporate engagement in climate change actions holds the key for society's transition into environmentally resilient economy, the study examines whether a firm's commitment to climate change action and its carbon risk exposure shape the firm's debt financing policy. Based on insights drawn from signaling, corporate reputation, and agency theories, we develop models that link corporate commitment to climate change actions and a firm's carbon risk exposure with its debt financing decisions. Using data drawn from S&P 500 companies, for years 2015 to 2019, we find a robust evidence that firms that engage in higher levels of commitment to climate change actions issue a higher proportion of debt with longer terms to maturity, even after controlling for their carbon risk exposure. However, we do not find a robust evidence corroborating an association between firms' carbon risk exposure and their debt financing policy. These findings are consistent with arguments that high-commitment firms enjoy positive reputation, better credit rating, and reduced agency and information asymmetry costs, allowing them to gain easier access to long-term debt markets.     

长江经济带土地出让与城镇化质量耦合协调研究

土地出让与城镇化质量作为城镇化的主要依托和核心追求,二者的关系影响到城市的可持续发展。以长江经济带为例,构建土地出让与城镇化质量综合评价指标体系,利用熵值法和耦合协调模型对二者耦合协调的时空差异做出实证研究,并利用ArcGIS将其空间显化。结果表明：研究期内长江经济带土地出让与城镇化质量的协调度呈现先增后减再增趋势；二者的协调度自西向东逐步增加,耦合度无明显分布规律,总体呈高水平耦合状态；土地出让与城镇化质量的协调度在城市群间的差异显著,但城市群内部的差异逐步减小。从土地出让与城镇化质量的耦合协调发展的视角,为实现城市健康可持续的发展提出政策建议。