Which type of producer organization is (more) inclusive? Dynamics of farmers’ membership and participation in the decision‐making process

Producer organizations (POs) provide benefits to smallholders by alleviating market access challenges. However, whether all farmers benefit from a PO is still a question. Limited evidence is available on whether POs are inclusive of poor farmers. Even if the poor join, do they participate in decision‐making? We conducted interviews with 595 smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya. We distinguish three groups; members of a bargaining PO, members of a processing PO and non‐members. We show that membership is related to the structural characteristics of the organization: processing POs favor membership of farmers that are wealthier, more educated and more innovative. As to participation in the decision‐making process: older, male and specialized farmers have a higher chance of being involved than poor farmers. Factors distinguishing farmer participation in decision‐making between bargaining and processing POs are highlighted. We find that a bargaining PO is more inclusive of all groups of farmers, while women and poor farmers are excluded from decision‐making in a processing PO. Our findings contribute to policymaking on inclusive development.     

江西省农民增收问题研究

提高农民收入是解决三农问题的重要举措。目前,江西省农民收入现状表现为收入水平增长速度加快,但与其他区域相比仍然有一些差距;收入结构中外出打工所占比例较高,省内各区域农民收入不均衡。造成这些现象的原因主要是农业结构不合理与农产品附加值低,农业经济合作组织发展滞后,农民素质仍然不高和农村金融体制的制约,因此应从调整农业产业结构、深化农村金融体制改革等方面进行改进。     

Formal microlending and adverse (or nonexistent) selection: a case study of shrimp farmers in Bangladesh

Microcredit schemes have become a popular means of improving smallholders’ access to credit and making long term investment possible. However, it remains to be explored whether the current microcredit schemes are more successful than earlier formal small scale lending in identifying successful borrowers. We studied shrimp farming in a rural region in Bangladesh where formal microlending is well established, but where more expensive informal microlending coexists with the formal schemes. Farmers – both those who exclusively use formal loans and those who also use informal loans – remain credit-constrained; both types overutilize labour in order to reduce the need for working capital. However, the credit constraint is actually milder for the informal borrowers: the implicit shadow price of working capital is substantially higher in the group that only takes formal loans than in the group that also uses informal loans. These results suggest that informal lenders – with their closer ties to the individual farmers – remain more successful in identifying those smallholder farmers that are most likely to use the borrowed funds successfully. Informal lenders have an information advantage that formal microlenders lack: the latter need to find routes to access this information in order for formal microcredit schemes to succeed.     

Do farmers get a greater return from selling their agricultural products through e-commerce?

E-commerce allows farmers to cut out intermediaries and sell agricultural products to consumers directly. This raises the question of whether farmers get a greater return when they use e-commerce to sell their products than when they use conventional marketing channels (i.e., intermediaries). To answer this question, we collected rural household data on sales of agricultural products from Zhejiang and Shandong provinces, in which we selected pairs of villages where e-commerce was advanced and villages where e-commerce was less advanced and households in each village that used or did not use e-commerce. We employed a fixed effects model to investigate the impacts of e-commerce on the selling prices and marketing costs of agricultural products. The model results revealed that compared with the conventional marketing channel through intermediaries, the marketing costs through the e-commerce channel significantly increased, but the selling price increases much more, which results in increases in gross returns for farmers. The increases in selling prices and marketing costs using e-commerce varied among agricultural products and between different qualities of the same product. It has important policy implications for improving farmers’ incomes and agricultural marketing channels in developing countries.     

社会地位会影响企业融资约束吗?——来自A股民营上市公司的经验证据

本文从企业的社会性对经济性行为影响的视角研究社会地位对民营企业融资约束的影响。以2009—2018年沪深A股民营上市公司为研究样本,研究发现社会地位越高的企业面临的融资约束程度越小。将企业所在地区的市场化程度以及企业高管的金融背景纳入考虑之后,研究发现相比于市场化程度较高的地区,在市场化程度较低地区,社会地位缓解企业融资约束的效果更为显著;相较于拥有金融关联的企业,没有金融关联的企业提升社会地位更有利于缓解融资约束。且进一步研究发现,在市场化程度较低地区,没有金融关联的企业社会地位缓解融资约束的效果最为显著。这些结论不仅拓展了企业“社会属性”对其“经济性”行为的影响研究,而且能够为民营企业缓解融资约束提供有益借鉴,尤其是处在市场化程度不高地区,且不存在金融关联的民营企业。     

猪肉可追溯系统中农户行为及其影响因素研究——基于北京市农户问卷调查的分析

根据针对北京市生猪养殖农户所做的问卷调查的数据,对猪肉可追溯系统中农户的行为及其影响因素进行了研究。研究结果表明:农户在行为方面对猪肉可追溯系统相关要求和规定的实际执行情况总体较好;以农户是否记录"生猪养殖档案"表示的农户行为受到农户的文化程度、养殖规模、生猪养殖收入所占比重、是否接受技术培训、对政府支持政策和无公害猪肉质量标准具体要求的认知程度的影响,并且文化程度越高、养殖规模越大、生猪养殖收入所占比重越高和接受技术培训、对政府支持政策和无公害猪肉质量标准具体要求的认知程度越高的农户记录"生猪养殖档案"的可能性越大。     

A fire sale without fire: An explanation of labor-intensive FDI in China

China's labor-intensive industries are characterized by low technology and high competition. The massive inflow of FDI in China's labor intensive industries is inconsistent with the conventional wisdom that FDI should be more prevalent in technology-intensive and low competition industries. To explain this puzzle, we offer a “fire sale” hypothesis: facing severe financial constraints, Chinese private firms give up their equity to form joint ventures with foreign firms in order to obtain financing. Using the garment industry as an example, we find that among domestic firms, the financial constraint index is highest for private firms and lowest for state-owned firms. We further estimate a probit model of joint-venture decisions by private firms. Our results suggest that those private firms with greater financial constraints are more likely to seek foreign joint ownership. The effect of financial constraints on joint venture decision is both statistically and economically significant.     

辽宁农村金融对农民收入增长支持的实证分析

从研究辽宁农民收入来源视角,通过统计数据和计量经济模型分析影响农民收入的主要因素。实证结果表明,1994—2010年以来,辽宁农村金融较好地支持了农民增收,信贷投资是农户人均纯收入增加的主要决定因素,同时农民就业结构和农产品价格的变化也是重要的影响因素。据此,针对性地提出加强对农民的金融支持,增加农民收入的对策建议。     

菜农成为蔬菜供应链稳定主体意愿分析

采用二元回归模型,以对菜农调查获得的相关数据资料为基础,分析菜农参与供应链意愿的影响因素。结论认为,户口、家庭种菜平均月收入、菜地面积、交易风险等因子对菜农是否愿意成为供应链稳定主体的影响是显著的;具有本地户口、家庭以男性为主导、受教育水平较高、劳动能力强、收入渠道多的菜农一般不愿意成为供应链稳定主体;收入渠道少、交易风险大、受教育水平低、有参加合作组织的菜农更愿意成为供应链稳定主体。     

Bank versus nonbank financial institution lending behaviour: indictors of firm size,risk or ownership?

Using 1251 matched commercial loan deal terms of listed companies over the period 2003–2014, we examine the heterogeneity of lending behaviours of bank and nonbank financial institutions. The results show that large firms have a higher likelihood of getting loans from nonbank financial institutions. Compared to banks, nonbank financial institutions are more likely to provide credit help to high operation risk firms. State-owned listed firms have a higher probability to get finance from nonbank financial institutions than private firms, which highlights the situation that private firms are in a weak position to get credit help from China’s financial system. Moreover, the process of increasing the banks’ noninterest income ratio tends to drives firms to borrow from nonbank financial institutions.     

Longitudinal evidence on financial expectations in Albania

This article focuses on the effect of remittances on financial expectations in Albania using longitudinal data covering the period 2002–2004. To study the dynamics of income satisfaction at the household level, we use subjective data on past, current and future financial situations and estimate random and fixed effect ordered Probit models. We find that households are more optimistic about the future when they have experienced an improvement in their financial situation in the past and when they have received private transfers from foreign countries.     

区域金融发展如何影响农业信贷与农民创业*——基于CHFS的实证研究

本文利用2013年和2015年中国家庭金融调查微观数据，结合中国银保监会披露的金融许可证注册信息的网点分布情况，实证分析区域金融发展对农户增收创业的作用，以及不同类型金融机构和区域金融市场结构差异对以上作用的影响。研究发现：（1）区域内银行网点数量的增加会显著降低农业正规信贷约束和农户参与民间借贷的概率，推动农户创业；（2）不同金融机构的信贷行为存在显著差异，农商行等新型农村金融机构可以有效克服农信社的内部治理缺陷，改善支农服务；（3）区域银行集中程度越高，农商行等新型农村金融机构和大型国有银行的支农效果越弱，两者在高集中度地区难以发挥积极作用。由此可见，仅仅依靠惠农政策或农信社改制来推动农民增收创业缺乏效力，应在建设竞争有序的区域金融市场的基础上鼓励金融机构改善支农服务。     

河南省城市化进程中失地农民问题研究

近年来,河南省城市化进程发展迅猛,产生了大量的失地农民,对经济社会的可持续发展产生了广泛而深远的影响.作者通过对河南省失地农民状况的实地调查研究,分析了河南省失地农民的现状和存在的主要问题,提出了转变观念、完善法律法规体系、深化土地制度改革等保护失地农民合法利益的一系列政策和措施.     

PRIVATE INTERHOUSEHOLD TRANSFERS OF MONEY AND TIME: NEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

There is a growing awareness that it is important to understand patterns of family assistance; however, there is still a great deal of information about private transfers that is not known. This study begins to fill this void by presenting results from a new survey and integrating these findings with evidence from recent studies that use other new data sets. It is found that: (i) a large share of households participate in private transfer networks, (ii) a greater amount of financial assistance is provided to lower income family members, (iii) altruism does not fully explain transfer behavior, and (iv) people in their 20s and 30s receive more assistance than people of other ages, even the very old.     

Taxation of International Private Capital Flows and Securities Transactions in Developing Countries: Do Public Finance Considerations Augment the Macroeconomic Dividends?

This paper examines policies to tax international private capital flows and securities transactions in developing countries. Many recent studies focus on the macroeconomic dividends associated with these policies (namely, their contribution to macroeconomic and financial stability and lengthened investor time horizons). In this paper I explore whether the potential of these policies to raise much‐needed tax revenues in developing countries augments their well‐known macroeconomic benefits. To my knowledge, there has been no effort to examine systematically the public finance issues related to the taxation of international private capital flows or securities transactions in the developing country context. I conclude that the public finance implications of these policies in middle‐income developing countries offers additional support to the macroeconomic case for them. To different degrees, taxation of international private capital flows and securities transactions has the potential to raise modest revenues in middle‐income countries. However, far more important is the potential of these policies to offer valuable macroeconomic dividends on the national level. These national macroeconomic dividends have the potential to bear fruit globally. This is because experiences with financial contagion over the last decade suggest that global financial stability can be enhanced via the promotion of domestic financial stability in developing countries.     

中国情境下的农民创业研究综述与展望

传统的农民特征与时代发展背景、中国特色情境相互交织,为农民创业带来机遇与挑战,也为农民创业研究带来新的主题.基于国内核心期刊的农民创业研究成果,分析了中国农民的特征及中国情境导致的农民差异,梳理近20年来国内农民创业研究所关注的主流问题.基于前因-过程-结果逻辑,提出了中国特色农民创业研究框架,指出了中国农民创业研究的研究热点和主流问题.在此基础上,对中国农民创业研究的未来方向做了展望.     

中国农村金融发展的收入效应——基于省级面板数据的实证分析

本文利用中国23个省级地区1988—2008年的面板数据,通过引入地区和时间两类虚拟变量,对中国农村金融的收入效应进行了比较与分析。研究结果显示,中国农村金融发展的收入效应具有显著的地区和时间差异。在东部和中部地区,农村金融发展对农民收入具有显著的正面影响,并且东部的效应大于中部;而在西部地区,农村金融发展对农民收入具有显著的负面影响。在1988—1998年和1999—2008年这两个时间段内,东部地区农村金融发展的收入效应进一步增强,中部和西部地区的收入效应没有显著变化。     

The economic performance of state-owned enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe

This article explores the economic performance of state ownership in the largest non-financial enterprises operating in 13 post-socialist Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries over the period 2007–2013. The largest state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are selected based on the ‘Coface – 500 Top Companies in CEE’ list in 2013. Of these 500 enterprises, 69 were identified as state-owned. All originated in the socialist period. The majority of them are from Poland and Ukraine. SOEs hold a dominant position in energy supply, the oil and gas sector, and transport. We find that the persistence of state ownership in post-socialist countries is caused by incomplete privatisation and the presence of SOEs within strategic sectors. The economic performance of the largest state-owned companies is, on average, comparable to their private counterparts.     

河南省农户小麦生产技术效率分析

采用河南省鹤壁、许昌、驻马店三市农户的调研数据,运用数据包络分析法(DEA)分析这三个市的农户小麦生产技术效率,结果表明鹤壁市农户小麦生产技术效率最高,许昌次之,驻马店最低,而且三个市的大部分农户都有扩大种植规模的潜力。并在此基础生提出加大财政支农资金的投入力度,改造中低产田大,力进行农田水利设施建设的对策和建议。     

Revenue insurance purchase decisions of farmers

The objective of this study is to evaluate farm, household, and financial characteristics of cash grain farmers’ decisions of whether to purchase revenue insurance. Using farm-level data these characteristics were identified by estimating a logit model of revenue insurance purchase decisions by farm operators. Results indicate that farm operators with the ability to self-insure through accumulation of sufficient wealth reserves measured in terms of the ratio of debts-to-assets, operators with off-farm income, and participation in production and marketing contracts, are more likely to pursue these strategies as a substitute for federal revenue insurance programmes. Further, study finds that older and wealthy cash grain farmers are less likely to buy revenue insurance.