Unequal but essential: How subsistence consumer–entrepreneurs negotiate unprecedented shock with extraordinary resilience during COVID‐19

We use qualitative interviews to study subsistence consumers confronting the global, pervasive and extended challenges of COVID‐19, encompassing literally all realms of daily life. For subsistence consumers whose circumstances are filled with day‐to‐day uncertainty and a small margin of error to begin with, the pandemic has led to manifold uncertainties and a disappearing margin of error, with potentially lethal consequences. Their constraints to thinking and lack of self‐confidence arising from both low income and low literacy are magnified in the face of the complex, invisible pandemic and the fear and panic it has caused. Characteristic relational strengths are weakened with social distancing and fear of infection. Yet, subsistence consumers display humanity in catastrophe, and confront the uncontrollable by reiterating a higher power. Consumption is reduced to the very bare essentials and income generation involves staying the course versus finding any viable alternative. We derive implications for consumer affairs.     

The effect of within-country inequality on international trade and investment agreements

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting that those losing from globalization influence policy makers to decrease the openness of their countries to globalization, as evidenced by signing international trade and investment agreements. Surprisingly, this influence has never been examined empirically. This study provides novel empirical evidence demonstrating that greater within-country inequality, our proxy for 'perceived losses' from globalization, decreases countries' propensity to sign regional trade and investment agreements. Our findings support the argument that the existence of 'losers' from globalization can be detrimental for continued globalization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first extensive econometric empirical evidence of the influence of within-country inequality on countries' willingness to sign international trade and investment agreements, as means to increase their global economic integration.     

South African consumers' willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb: The influence of subjective and objective knowledge,label information and demographics

In South Africa, Karoo Lamb is a prestigious product associated with free range production. This study examined the influence of subjective and objective Karoo Lamb knowledge, the importance of label information, and demographics on consumers' willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb products. A panel of 355 consumers who had previously purchased lamb/mutton products completed an online questionnaire. The importance of Karoo Lamb label information, subjective Karoo Lamb knowledge and population group had a significant positive impact on willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb. Objective Karoo Lamb knowledge and other demographics did not have a significant impact.     

农户林地流转的减贫效应研究——基于粤、浙、皖3省的农户调查

森林资源丰富与贫困聚集并存,且"均山"改革下的林地细碎化又降低了资源利用效率,而通过林地流转实现贫困缓解却存在树种依赖。本文利用2015年中国农村林业改革发展监测数据,在分树种测算农户生产效率的基础上,将林地流转引发的效率变化对农户经营收入影响产生的绝对减贫效应和相对减贫效应进行检验。结果表明,农户林地生产效率较低且不同农户间的效率差异明显;经营杉木与松木的农户通过林地流转能够实现绝对贫困与相对贫困的缓解,但对经营果树而言,生产效率更高的农户从林地流转中获益更多,形成相对剥夺,农户间相对贫困加剧;毛竹经营不存在规模依赖,林地流转也不存在减贫效应。林地流转的政策鼓励需要考虑利益导向,同时关注村庄内部的不平等。     

可持续生计视角下易地搬迁精准扶贫效果评价

易地搬迁是我国实施精准扶贫政策的重要手段之一。以湖北省十堰市龙韵村115户搬迁农户为研究对象,对其搬迁前后的生计资本、生计策略以及生计结果分别进行对比,分析政策实施对搬迁农户生计的改善情况,并通过移民农户对扶贫搬迁政策的满意度评价扶贫效果。结果表明:(1)易地扶贫搬迁促进了移民生计资本的增加,改变了农户生计策略,优化了贫困户整体生计结果,精准扶贫效果显著;(2)农户对易地搬迁扶贫政策效果的整体满意度较高,均值为3.71,提升了贫困户的获得感及幸福感;(3)易地搬迁可持续减贫仍存在一定的制约因素,需要防范返贫风险。     

农地权益保障与农业转移人口市民化

研究目的：明晰农地权益对农业转移人口市民化的影响，进而揭示当前全国各地对农业转移人口农地权益保护状况。研究方法：基于Probit模型的实证分析。研究结果：（1）从全国范围来看，农业转移人口的农地权益只得到部分保障；（2）农地权益保障状况存在较大的地区差异，区域经济越发达，农地权益保障越完善；（3）农地权益只得到部分保障对推动农业转移人口向城市迁移起着促进作用，但却对农业转移人口市民化有着显著负面影响。研究结论：农地权益保障是农业转移人口市民化的重要影响因素，农地权益的不充分保障对农业转移人口市民化具有负面影响，而经济越不发达的地区这种影响越显著。     

国有林场贫困测定与差异性研究

基于2008—2017年国家林业局对中国28个省(市、区)国有林场的调研数据,运用等价性检验的方法从地理位置、经济状况、可持续经营和发展能力层面上对国有林场的贫困测度和差异性进行实证分析。研究结果表明:国有贫困林场不一定位于贫困县,并且与国有非贫困林场之间的差异逐渐缩小;国有贫困林场区域异质性强,经济发展水平较低;国有贫困林场在森林资源基础、人力资源基础、基础设施和生产条件等方面的可持续发展能力较差。因此,提出了相关林业部门应该鼓励国有贫困林场发展特色林产品;加大扶贫资金投入;改善职工生计条件;加强资金管理意识等政策建议。     

基于MOA理论消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿驱动路径分析——以大米为例

[目的]随着我国人民生活水平的提高,绿色农产品愈发得到消费者的青睐。文章旨在探析消费者绿色农产品意愿溢价水平及其溢价支付意愿的驱动路径,以期为绿色农产品产业的发展提供相应政策启示。[方法]基于MOA理论分析框架,利用结构方程模型和消费者调查数据,该文以主粮大米为例展开分析。[结果]以普通大米5元/kg为基准价格,消费者绿色大米平均意愿溢价水平为125.7%,意愿溢价水平从高到低排序依次是东部地区(145.2%)、中部地区(140.09%)、西部地区(91.82%)。[结论](1)利己动机、利他动机、创新性能力、信息获取能力能够直接作用于消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿,而消费机会通过利己动机、利他动机和信息获取能力间接作用于溢价支付意愿;(2)基于多群组结构方程,研究发现个人可支配收入和文化程度能够调节消费者创新性能力、信息获取能力对消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿影响;(3)消费者创新性能力和信息获取能力对溢价支付意愿的影响存在地域差异性。     

Ability and willingness to work during COVID-19 pandemic:Perspectives of front-line hotel employees

This research note reports the results of a qualitative study exploring front-line hotel employees’ views about working during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to identify factors that may influence their ability and willingness to report to work. Findings from online focus-groups reveal that front-line hotel employees generally felt a sense of duty to work during the pandemic. However, there were also a number of perceived barriers to working that impacted on this sense of duty. These emerged as barriers to ability and barriers to willingness, but the distinction is not clear-cut. Instead, most barriers seem to form a continuum ranging from negotiable barriers to insuperable barriers. Following this coneptualisation, the key to reducing absenteeism during the pandemic is likely to take remedial action so that barriers to willingness do not become perceived as barriers to ability to work. Practical implications towards this direction are offered.     

社会互动对规模养殖户环保饲料支付意愿的影响研究*——基于改进的目标导向理论模型分析框架

［目的］通过引入社会互动变量改进目标导向行为理论框架，探讨生猪规模养殖户对环保饲料的支付意愿及其影响因素，为完善畜禽养殖污染防治政策提供参考借鉴。［方法］以湖北省生猪规模养殖户为研究对象，应用Heckman两阶段模型，研究规模养殖户对环保饲料的支付意愿。［结果］大多数规模养殖户（8134%）愿意采用环保饲料，且平均意愿支付水平为每头生猪饲料成本的669%（4680元/头）。社会互动中的干群互动、同行互动均能显著提升规模养殖户对环保饲料的支付意愿，但同时同行互动不利于其意愿支付水平的提升。进一步的异质性分析表明，在环保饲料支付意愿决策上，社会互动较少的规模养殖户更容易受到制度规范的约束，而社会互动较多的规模养殖户则更易受到感知养殖热情的影响。［结论］政府部门应加大生态环保宣传力度，并借助多种方式推动规模养殖户进行社会互动； 同时可依据社会互动程度的不同，分别制定相应措施以促进规模养殖户对环保饲料支付意愿的提升。