Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Family farming in various guises has been the dominant ownership and governance system in primary production over recorded history. This outcome has been controlled by farmers and their families, possibly due to tradition, opportunities, personal characteristics, skill sets and the nature of primary production. Of these, it is hypothesised that the farmers’ personal characteristics play a major part in the choice, and continuance, of current ownership and governance systems. Equally as important, they, and therefore the land ownership system, play a part in the efficiency of production systems and improvement of the biological and production environment.The benefits and difficulties of commonly used ownership systems in Western society are reviewed. Using a sample of New Zealand (NZ) farms, a comparison of the managers’ features for owner/operator, partnership and corporate based systems is presented. There were significant differences in many variables including the farmers’ age, education, number of children, asset levels, years on the current farm, and similar, but more importantly, the farmers in the ownership system groups had differing personal characteristics. Significantly, despite the corporate based farms employing more professional assistance, the profit levels were similar across ownership systems leaving the farmers’ characteristics the main factors correlating with system choice. However, governance systems per se are only marginally correlated with production systems and efficiency.As successive generations of farmers are unlikely to have different characteristics, and corporate based systems continue to exhibit similar profit levels, relatively simple family based systems will continue to dominate farm land ownership and control. The trends suggest family farms will increase in size and involve family conglomerates facilitating the management of larger, and in many cases multiple, farms. While currently there are few differences in biological efficiency between ownership systems, given the efficiency benefits of size and scale, this could well change with the increase of family conglomerates. Relative to increasing corporatisation, the continuance of family based ownership and governance will also be of benefit to the environment. When developing land policies, these highlighted relationships should be taken into account. This study is a first to consider personal characteristics relative to ownership.     

Airport ownership and financial performance: Evidence from Italy

In the past few decades many countries have increased the presence of various forms of private sector involvement in airport ownership and management. This paper focuses on the financial performance of Italian airport companies. We present empirical evidence separately for two groups where public or private management majority prevails. The main findings indicate that companies with a private majority outperform the others in terms of financial indicators that are related to operating income.     

产权管制放松博弈与中国农业生产危机——基于结构突变面板数据模型的实证分析

基于产权管制放松的分析视角，本文构建一个政治风险下农民和国家的动态博弈模型来解释中国两次农业生产危机。此外，本文利用1959—1961年与1970—1977年两次中国农业生产危机的省级面板数据对理论模型进行了实证检验。结构突变面板计量结果表明，国家不会主动削弱自己的谈判能力，除非政策失误或外部竞争压力造成的冲击才可能迫使它在产权管制放松的博弈谈判中让步。     

新医药产业协同创新结构考察

协同创新的本质是创新系统的结构构建,各创新要素之间的联结和相互作用机制决定了协同创新系统的效率。本文以江苏新医药产业为例,从创新网络的节点和创新资源两个方面分析了新医药产业协同创新的结构,并从创新网络的结构特征归纳了新医药产业协同创新的类型,最后提出应如何通过构建产业协同创新的结构来优化创新系统的效率。     

“嵌入性”约束下的产业转移制度安排——江苏省南北挂钩共建产业园区的经验借鉴

产业转移不仅是一种典型的经济行为,而且是一种社会行为。遵循经济学逻辑,当不同区域间的生产要素价格差距较大时,受市场信号指挥的企业就会自发采取适应性行为——向要素成本较低的区域进行梯度转移。现实中,尽管我国区域间的要素价格差距悬殊,但产业转移步伐远远落后于预期。从新经济社会学视角论证这种"经济悖论",发现嵌入本地的生产性、服务性、制度性、社会性网络制约着企业的异地转移行为,进一步提出产业转移是企业社会关系网络和协力合作网络"脱嵌-再嵌入"的过程,并以江苏省南北挂钩共建产业园区为例,验证了两地政府通力合作有利于降低"脱嵌"对企业异地生产的冲击,并能够帮助企业"再嵌入"异地社会关系网络和协力合作网络,从而有力地解释了我国区域间产业转移需要政府介入的新经济社会学逻辑。     

城市化、政府财政支出、就业所有制结构与城乡收入差距

基于1985-2012年的数据,建立以城市化、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构为内生变量的向量误差修正模型,并且用协整检验考察城市化水平、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构的长期均衡与短期动态关系。实证分析发现:四者不仅存在长期的均衡关系,而且存在短期动态关系。具体而言,城市化、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构在长期会扩大城乡收入差距,在短期则会缩小城乡收入差距。     

环境与就业维度下出口商品结构优化——以江苏为例

利用计量方法从环境和就业这两个指标来考察江苏出口商品结构优化,其中环境指标主要是通过碳排放指标来体现的。通过研究发现江苏九大类出口商品在环境和就业指标上都无此消彼长现象,其中对两指标都具显著影响力的为机械及运输设备,化学品及有关产品和按原料分类的制成品这两类出口商品仅对环境有着显著影响力,对就业不具显著影响力,至于其他种类的出口商品则对环境和就业这两个指标都不具显著影响力,最后得出江苏出口商品结构优化的最明确方向,即大力促进机械及运输设备的出口,抑制化学品及有关产品和按原料分类的制成品这两类出口商品的出口。     

Corporate Ownership and Environmental Proactivity

The present paper advances knowledge of the drivers of firms' proactive environmental strategies. In particular, it explores the relationship between different corporate ownership structures and firms' green proactivity, in order to see whether some types of shareholder act as a stimulating driver for firms' proactive environmental behaviors. The study examines the explanatory power of corporate governance issues, such as a firm's ownership structure, as potential determinants of companies' environmental proactivity. Attention is focused on the European firms included into the Carbon Disclosure Project questionnaire 2012. The results show that ownership structure matters in firms' environmental proactivity. In particular, firms with a higher percentage of state ownership present superior green proactivity, while ownership concentration appears negatively related to proactive environmental strategy. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications. It focuses attention on a still underdeveloped research area, namely organizations and their relationship with the natural environment, including corporate ownership as a driver of a company's proactive environmental strategy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

基于用地效率分析的城市区域空间结构极化模型及空间发展战略

不同规模的城市其用地效率具有一定的差异性.本文通过对中国660余个不同规模城市的用地效率分析,在总结和分析了传统城市区域空间结构基本理论和模型的基础上,提出基于城市用地效率分析的城市区域空间结构极化模型.通过理论与实证分析表明,城市发展的方向一极是大型化,发展成为特大城市或超大城市(人口100万-400万);另一极是小...     

京津冀区域空间格局及其优化整合分析

本文以京津冀区域空间结构为研究对象,从点、线、网络和域面四个基本空间要素入手,研究提升区域竞争力的空间整合规律.研究认为,京津冀区域人口和城镇体系的空间分布不均衡,一方面,以自然条件为基础,呈现东南集中特征,另一方面,中小城镇分布以京广、京九、京哈铁路等为依托,呈现以北京为中心的强向心分布;城镇带分布大体可划分为京广线...