劳动力价格、信息不对称与农户精细管理技术投入——基于质量识别能力差异的视角

近年来,劳动力价格的快速上涨已然成为中国农业生产所必须面对的内在挑战。对于机械作业难度相对较大的劳动密集型作物而言,在缓解劳动力约束瓶颈的同时,更应通过精细化的果园管理,以提高产品质量,进而提高其市场价格。然而,由于农产品具有典型的经验品属性,在信息不对称的外部约束下,农户通常难以获得应有的"质量溢价"。基于此,本文通过构建理论分析框架,以果品质量关键环节的精细管理技术作为研究对象,系统分析在劳动力价格上涨背景下农户精细管理技术投入的决策机制,以及在不同农产品质量识别程度中,劳动力成本变化对其影响的异质性,并基于全国18个省份农户的调研数据进行实证研究。研究结果表明:农户交易对象质量识别能力的提高,能够缓解农户与购买者之间存在的信息不对称性,将农产品质量信息传递给购买者,使农户获得更高的销售价格,进而在有效提高农户精细管理技术投入水平的同时,能够弱化劳动力价格对其所产生的负面影响。     

新时期农业科技与金融融合的示范园模式与“公司+农户”模式探索

农民如何依托土地脱贫增收成为我国农业发展的关键问题。农业科技与金融的融合是家庭联产承包责任制下提升农业产出效率的有效手段。通过创新农业经营主体，建立政府引导、市场主导的“示范园模式”与“公司+农户”模式加强农业科技与金融融合；构建完善的试验-示范技术扩散体系，帮助农民进行技术模仿，提升农业技术能力；结合金融扶持，帮助农民提升对接市场技术的能力，提高土地产出效率是促进农民脱贫增收的有效途径。     

农业减量化：农户经营的规模逻辑及其证据

本文将农户分为五种类型,并将农地规模分解为地块规模、经营规模与连片规模,由此构建“农户类型—规模形式—减量化行为”的分析框架,进而阐明农户减量化的规模逻辑。基于农户问卷的实证分析表明:①对于所有样本农户来说,地块规模越大,减施量越高。其中,追求产量最大化的生产型小农,减施量与经营规模呈“倒U”型变化,而追求多元化经营的功能型小农,减施量随经营规模的扩大而增加;②农户连片规模扩大,减施量就增高,并且能够增强地块规模扩大以及经营规模扩大对减施的促进作用;③农户社会服务卷入程度加深,能够增强地块规模、经营规模和连片规模扩大对减施的促进作用。据此,农业减量化,应鼓励农户开展连片种植,形成生产性服务的市场容量,然后诱导服务供应商提供专业化服务,进而实现服务规模经营对农地规模经营的替代。     

Early labor market outcomes of university graduates: Does time to degree matter?

Using university administrative and survey data drawn from the AlmaLaurea Consortium, we analyze the effect of time to degree on the early labor market performance of Italian graduates. The empirical strategy allows identifying separately the impact of elapsed time to degree on the transition from university to work and on earnings from other determinants specific to the academic path completed. Findings suggest that delayed graduation reduces the employment probability (0.8% points for each year of delay), and this effect is still persistent five years after graduation. Once employed, graduates not completing their degree within the minimum period are also penalized in their net monthly earnings, even five years after graduation. The most penalized groups are women and graduates in non-scientific fields.     

The Effects of M&A on Corporate Performance in Japan:DID Analysis in the Era of Corporate Governance Reform

This study analyzes how mergers and acquisitions (M&A) affect the performance of acquired companies in Japan. The sample period includes the era in which the government of Japan promoted a series of corporate governance reforms. A difference-in-differences analysis is implemented to eliminate the endogenous effects of a corporate acquisition. Choosing a control group by propensity score matching, we find that acquisitions have significantly negative effects on employment but no significant effects on labor productivity. For acquisitions by Japanese companies, we also find no significant improvement in ROA but significant improvement in Tobin’s q. The results are consistent with the zombie company theory, which indicates that an M&A prolongs the life of an insolvent company. Acquisitions by Japanese companies are in contrast with those by foreign companies, which have positive effects on ROA.     

城市最低生活保障兼有消费改善与劳动供给激励效应吗?

最低生活保障制度是我国社会保障体系中兜底性、基础性的制度安排,是保障民生、促进分配公平、维护经济安全和社会稳定的重要机制。本文通过对城市低保制度消费改善与劳动供给效应的综合评估发现,我国城市低保从整体上改善了受助家庭的消费状况,影响了受助家庭的消费结构,起到了提升经济福利的效果,但是对受助家庭的劳动供给激励效应还比较小。女性户主、劳动力技能低、抚养负担重的家庭,通过低保救助获得消费改善的同时,会出现减少劳动供给的倾向;男性户主、劳动力技能强、抚养负担轻的家庭,通过低保救助获得消费改善的同时,会出现增加劳动供给的倾向。下一阶段,建立健全分层分类的社会救助体系是我国实现高质量社会救助的关键所在。     

Impact of the Sloping Land Conversion Program on rural household income: An integrated estimation

The objective of this study is to identify the pathways of the potential impacts of the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) on household income and quantify these impacts along the identified pathways. We fulfill this objective by developing an integrated analytic framework and using data collected from Wuqi county of Shaanxi for the period 2004–2010. This integrated analytic framework enables us to formulate a structural equation model for testing hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect impacts of the SLCP. It is found that the direct effect of the SLCP on household income is positive but very small and insignificant, suggesting that retiring cropland has, at least, not reduced income from farming. Moreover, the SLCP has had a much higher and even increasing indirect impact on household income through promoting labor transfer and relaxing liquidity constraints. Overall, the SLCP's total impact on household income ranged from 3% in 2004 to 9% in 2010 excluding the insignificant direct impact. The research and policy implications of our work are discussed.     

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 intervention policies on the hospitality labor market

Using new high-frequency data that covers a representative sample of small businesses in the United States, this study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting state policies on the hospitality industry. First, business closure policies are associated with a 20–30% reduction of non-salaried workers in the food/drink and leisure/entertainment sectors during March-April of 2020. Second, business reopening policies play a statistically significant role in slowly reviving the labor market. Third, considerable differences exist in the impact of policies on the labor market by state. Fourth, the rise of new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis is associated with the continued deterioration of the labor market. Lastly, managerial, practical, and economic implications are described.     

New evidence on the historical growth of government in Europe: The role of labor costs

We document a robust positive correlation between the size of government and the labor share of income in data from European countries covering the period 1869–1975. Following Facchini et al. (2017), we interpret this correlation as evidence that labor costs drive public spending. The long-term increase in the labor share observed over this period explains half of the overall growth of central government. The relationship holds when the labor share is instrumented with movements in technological change at the frontier. When decomposing public spending, transfers, not intensive in labor, are the only component not associated with the labor share.     

Social Security and Old Age Unemployment Risk with Efficient Wage Bargaining

I analyze a life‐cycle economy with old age productivity risk where wages, employment, and severance payments are set through efficient bargaining between risk averse unions and risk neutral firms. Allocations with limited union membership are second‐best inefficient as they generate too little labor supply in young age, too much consumption before retirement, too little employment of older workers (early retirement), and too little insurance against old age unemployment. Providing public transfers to early retirees (disability benefits or early pensions) might help to increase the degree of risk sharing at the cost of lower old age employment. Depending on whether absolute risk aversion is increasing or decreasing in consumption, these policies might or might not produce efficiency gains at equilibrium.