Institutional dynamics and access to non-farm employment in rural China, 1950–1996

This article examines non-farm employment in the context of Chinese rural institutional change, based on evidence from discrete-time logistic models for event history analysis using the Life History and Social Change survey. We find the transition to non-farm sector rose rapidly during the Great Leap Forward and market reform, while the Cultural Revolution saw it reach the lowest ebb. While male advantage prevailed exclusively during the Cultural Revolution and early marketization, education possessed a stable positive effect in all historical periods. Although the returns to different kinds of political capital vary along with institutional dynamics, intergenerational reproduction was greatly reduced after the Cultural Revolution.     

川西北高原藏区农村贫困化分异机制探测

[目的]客观揭示农村贫困化地域分异机制,为科学推进川西北高原藏区精准扶贫创新途径、综合战略和认真贯彻落实中央治藏方略提供参考依据。[方法]应用地理探测器模型、GIS空间分析与地统计方法等方法,探测川西北高原藏区贫困村单位面积GDP分异的主导因素,揭示农村贫困化分异机制,提出不同贫困化地域类型的扶贫政策措施。[结果]影响川西北高原藏区农村贫困化分异的主导因素包括到主要交通道路距离、归一化植被指数(NDVI)、土地利用、年均温度和海拔高程等,各因素对贫困村经济发展分异的解释力分别为80. 76%、12. 82%、8. 82%、5. 45%和3. 96%;贫困村经济发展贫困化的分异机制存在明显差异,可归纳为交通区位约束型、自然环境约束型和经济区位约束型等三大类型;农村贫困化驱动机制下的贫困村精准扶贫政策措施亟需因地制宜、科学推进、讲求实效,有序推进精准扶贫战略。[结论]精准扶贫应分类指导、重点突破,尤其加强贫困村交通、水利、公共基础设施建设和特色农牧业产业培植,注重多种扶贫模式的综合集成。     

生计资本对黄土丘陵区贫困人口生计活动的影响及评价*——以甘肃省榆中县为例

［目的］通过深入研究黄土丘陵区贫困人口生计资本对生计活动的影响，为解决农村贫困问题，提升农户生计资本存量、实现区域可持续生计发展提供科学依据。［方法］文章以甘肃省榆中县为例，基于对榆中县农户的调查数据，采用熵值法分析了东北部山区、中部川区和西南部山区贫困人口的生计资本状况和生计活动方式，并对其生计活动进行评价。［结果］从农户的生计资本组合来看，榆中县整体自然资本和人力资本相对物质资本、金融资本、社会资本3类资本较为富裕，尤其在西南部山区和东北部山区3类资本缺乏型农户比例较高。中部川区各乡镇人口的总体生计资本状况较好，总指数最高，而西南部山区次之、东北部山区最低，两者生计资本状况总体匮乏。农户的生计活动主要以种植、养殖和外出打工为主，生计活动多样性程度偏低； 中部川区人口的生计活动多样性指数最高，西南部山区次之、东北部山区最低，且整体受教育程度偏低，加之物质资本、金融资本、社会资本缺乏进一步限制了当地农户的生计多样性。［结论］（1）针对不同生计资本水平和生计活动多样性程度偏低的贫困地区，需要进一步发挥民族文化产业扶贫优势，开启地域产业扶贫新模式，打造地域无公害特色农业产业品牌，提高农户物质资本边际贡献； （2）发展小额信贷金融服务，改善农户金融资本存量，预防村际农户金融资本二元极化； （3）实施免费教育培训技能学习，打造教育培训脱贫示范村，提高人力资本存量，缓解贫困人口生计压力等提高经济发展水平的扶贫政策措施。     

What has New Zealand gained from The FTA with China?: Two counterfactual analyses†

We investigate the effects of the 2008 New Zealand (NZ)–China free trade agreement (FTA) on exports from NZ to China, and real GDP per capita in NZ using the synthetic control method to estimate the counterfactuals. NZ exports to China were more than 200% higher in 2014 than what they would have had the FTA never been signed. NZ's food and live animals exports to China were more than 180% higher in 2014 than the counterfactual. Our counterfactuals indicate a small but negative effect of the FTA on NZ's real GDP per capita between 2009 and 2012.     

The Non‐Observed Economy in Portugal: The monetary model and the MIMIC model

This paper offers estimations for the Portuguese path of the Non‐Observed Economy (NOE), in the period 1970–2015, through two seminal approaches: monetary method and the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model. It is observed that the tax burden and social benefits are its main causes. Then, to get a more in‐depth understanding of the phenomenon, it provides a study of the Granger causality between the NOE and the official Gross Domestic Product (GDP), emphasizing the implications of the NOE on the Portuguese economy. Evidence has been found for the existence of bidirectional causality between the NOE and the GDP, suggesting that the formal economy affects the NOE, and conversely that the NOE affects the economic growth.     

Forecast-error-based estimation of forecast uncertainty when the horizon is increased

Past forecast errors are employed frequently in the estimation of the unconditional forecast uncertainty, and several institutions have increased their forecast horizons in recent times. This work addresses the question of how forecast-error-based estimation can be performed if there are very few errors available for the new forecast horizons. It extends the results of Knüppel (2014) in order to relax the condition on the data structure that is required for the SUR estimator to be independent of unknown quantities. It turns out that the SUR estimator of the forecast uncertainty, which estimates the forecast uncertainty for all horizons jointly, tends to deliver large efficiency gains relative to the OLS estimator (i.e., the sample mean of the squared forecast errors for each individual horizon) in the case of increased forecast horizons. The SUR estimator is applied to the forecast errors of the Bank of England, the US Survey of Professional Forecasters, and the FOMC.     

乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数分析

[目的]通过分析2012年和2014年乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数,评价该地区不同年份扶贫效果,这也为今后各项扶贫政策的实施提供理论参考。[方法]文章依据中国绿色减贫指数指标体系,从经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果4个方面,以人均地区生产总值、单位地区生产总值能耗等27个因子作为评价指标,利用线性加权综合法分析2012年和2014年经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值,最终确定绿色减贫指数。同时,分析片区内各贫困县波动较大的第三产业增加值比重、单位耕地面积化肥施用量、城乡收入比和农村人均纯收入增长率等指标。[结果]2014年相比2012年,乌蒙山片区经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值上升,社会发展能力指标值降低,绿色减贫指数提高了15.40%。各县第三产业比重均降低,但农村人均纯收入都有提高。四川省10个县单位耕地面积化肥施用量增加。四川省除叙永县和美姑县,贵州省除赤水市,片区内的各贫困县城乡收入比降低。[结论]2014年,乌蒙山区在落实国家扶贫规划上取得了较好的成效。但各县之间差距较大,在今后的扶贫攻坚中,需要从不同地区的实际情况出发,了解贫困类型和贫困程度,考察当地资源储备和环境现状,统筹区域发展。     

Simplified Jackknife Variance Estimates for Fuzzy Measures of Multidimensional Poverty

In this paper, we present a practical methodology for variance estimation for multi‐dimensional measures of poverty and deprivation of households and individuals, derived from sample surveys with complex designs and fairly large sample sizes. The measures considered are based on fuzzy representation of individuals' propensity to deprivation in monetary and diverse non‐monetary dimensions. We believe this to be the first original contribution for estimating standard errors for such fuzzy poverty measures. The second objective is to describe and numerically illustrate computational procedures and difficulties in producing reliable and robust estimates of sampling error for such complex statistics. We attempt to identify some of these problems and provide solutions in the context of actual situations. A detailed application based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data for 19 NUTS2 regions in Spain is provided.     

基于熵值法的高质量发展综合评价研究

探索高质量发展评价指标体系是当前社会各界面临的极富挑战性和开创性工作。从生产、分配、交换和消费四个环节选取23个指标构建高质量发展指标体系,利用熵值法对2000—2015年我国经济高质量发展进行评价。在此基础上从提升全要素生产率、调节国民收入分配格局、助力文化消费以及防范市场风险等层面提出政策建议。     

Consumer Preferences for Fresh Tomatoes in Benin using a Conjoint Analysis

Constraints related to the technical and socioeconomic aspects of adopting tomato varieties are well documented. However, preferences relating to the demand for this fruit are rarely studied. In fact, demand for the different varieties of tomatoes might be related to consumers’ preferences for the extrinsic (color, size) and intrinsic (taste, nutritive value, water content) characteristics specific to each variety. It is therefore indispensable to determine the characteristics of tomatoes preferred by consumers. We examine consumers’ preferences for tomato attributes among a sample of 600 consumers in four representative markets in the main cities in southern Benin. The study also identifies potential segments of consumers and the market shares of each profile for each segment. The study identifies four potential tomato market segments, two of which have a strong preference for local tomatoes, namely, those that can be conserved for long periods and those with a firm consistency.