典型平原农区土地非农化对乡村发展影响的微观机理

深入探讨农区土地非农化对乡村发展的影响机理,是优化城乡土地资源配置、促进城乡一体化的重要途径。文章结合山东省禹城市与桓台县7个城郊型回迁社区、新型农村社区、传统型村庄的问卷调查与深度访谈资料,应用可行能力分析方法,从生态、社会及经济等3个维度构建了农户行为响应评价体系,分析了典型平原农区农户对土地非农化的行为响应特征,揭示了土地非农化对乡村发展的微观影响机理。研究表明:(1)土地非农化是城乡土地要素流动与空间重构的过程,对乡村发展的影响包括由城镇征地、村庄扩展与农村社区化产生的直接影响与城镇辐射的间接影响,提升或降低了农户行为主体的生态、社会及经济福利;(2)不同类型村庄对土地非农化直接影响的行为响应各不相同,其中,城镇征地对城郊型社区的影响最为剧烈,导致农户经济、生态福利的提升及社会福利的下降,传统型村庄受村庄扩展影响深远,降低了农户生态福利,新型农村社区具有较高的居住效用,有效提升了农户生态福利;(3)传统型村庄受土地非农化间接影响较强,经济福利得以显著提升,经济发达镇域辐射效应有效提升了新型农村社区农户的生态、经济及社会福利;(4)农户资源禀赋不同导致农户对土地非农化的行为响应存在差异;(5)适度推进城乡用地增减挂工程,调控城乡土地要素的合理流动。最后,该文提出了不同类型村庄的城乡一体化模式与调控路径。     

A latent class approach to investigating demand for genetically modified banana in Uganda

This study explores consumer acceptance and valuation of a genetically modified (GM) staple food crop in a developing country prior to its commercialization. We focus on the hypothetical introduction of a disease‐resistant GM banana variety in Uganda, where bananas are among the most important staple crops. A choice experiment is used to investigate consumer preferences for various attributes related to the banana (such as bunch size, technology, producer benefit, and price) and examine their opinions on GM foodstuff. Choice data come from 421 banana‐consuming households randomly selected from three regions of Uganda. A latent class model is used to investigate the heterogeneity in consumers’ preferences for selected attributes related to the banana and to profile consumers who are more or less likely to accept GM bananas. Our results reveal that there is significant heterogeneity in consumer preferences across our sample. GM bananas are valued the most by poorer households located in the rural areas of the Eastern region. These food‐insecure households would experience the highest benefits (i.e., welfare gains) from the commercial release of GM bananas. In contrast, urban consumers are less accepting of GM bananas, and they would experience significant welfare losses if GM banana is released. According to our welfare estimates, both the total welfare benefits acquired by the gainers and the total welfare losses borne by the losers of this technology are significant and large. These results suggest the need for further investigation of the overall welfare effects of the introduction of GM bananas on the Ugandan society as a whole.     

Agricultural Subsidies and Rural Development

How consistent is a single farm payment system with rural development goals? A new economic geography model is used to compare coupled subsidies to ‘single farm payments’ effects on the location of farming, agro‐industry and non‐farm activity between rural and urban areas. This abstract model features a majority of employment in service sectors, farming vertically linked to manufacturing, and strong preferences for geo‐varieties. It appears that both coupled subsidies and single farm payments can decrease spatial agglomeration. But only the single farm payment policy raises welfare in both rural and urban regions of this stylised economy.     

Land for welfare in China

Drawing on firsthand observations, Party and government documents, and survey data, this study examines the causes and processes of the land for welfare policy in China. The implementation of the land for welfare program cannot be understood in isolation from the profound urban–rural gap in the land property rights regime and social welfare provision in China. The dual land tenure system allows local officials to generate revenue by expropriating rural land, which, to rural households, functions as a social insurance as well as an income-generating property. In the process of land requisition, land-losing villagers are provided with social welfare benefits to compensate for their loss of their land's insurance function. Such provision, however, is not developed out of the local governments’ benign intention, but their strategic reaction to the central government's development program that combines rural social welfare provision with a land rewarding system, which provides an opportunity for local officials to gain more land, a valuable asset for local governments. The provision of social welfare benefits is selective: affected rural households are provided with welfare benefits that are less costly to the local government, typically in the form of a pension insurance.     

Models of Site‐choice for Walks in Rural Ireland: Exploring Cost Heterogeneity

Farmland can confer significant public good benefits to society aside from its role in agricultural production. In this article, we investigate preferences of rural residents for the use of farmland as a recreational resource. In particular, we use a choice experiment to determine preferences for the development of farmland walking trails. Our modelling approach uses a series of mixed logit models to assess the impact of alternative distributional assumptions for the cost coefficient on the welfare estimates associated with the provision of the trails. Our results reveal that using a mixture of discrete and continuous distributions to represent cost heterogeneity leads to a better model fit and lower welfare estimates. Our results further reveal that Irish rural residents show positive preferences for the development of farmland walking trails in the Irish countryside.     

Urban integration of land-deprived households in China: Quality of living and social welfare

This study finds that the land-deprived households who have migrated from rural to urban areas (the land-deprived urban households) in all regions of China are not well integrated into urban society, which is reflected by their lower quality of living and inferior social welfare compared to normal urban households. However, we find an anomaly that land-deprived urban households, compared to the normal urban households, have lower quality of living and lower participation rate in urban social security, but have similar level of self-evaluated happiness. This anomaly can be explained by the fact that the land-deprived urban households self-select into inferior communities with neighbors of similar living and social conditions, and their happiness and social utility depend more on their status relative to their neighbors than on their status relative to the whole urban society. In addition, this study finds that land acquisition raises the quality of living and social welfare of the land-deprived households, migrating into urban areas does not improve their quality of living or social welfare, but better education and younger age facilitate their integration into urban society.     

Activists and Animal Welfare: Quality Verifications in the Canadian Pork Sector

Animal welfare is an emotive topic. Although most governments legislate against outright animal cruelty, animal welfare organisations have actively lobbied for more stringent farm animal welfare regulations. Food retailers and restaurant chains have faced pressure from animal welfare organisations to implement more stringent animal welfare requirements for their suppliers. Is the demand for more stringent farm animal welfare protocols primarily determined by a subset of consumers with very strong preferences or does it signal a more fundamental underlying change in societal preferences? Given the credence nature of farm animal welfare, whom do consumers trust for credible quality assurances? This article analyses the role of quality verification in a market characterised by consumers with heterogeneous preferences for animal welfare. Of particular interest are the relative strength of preferences for humane animal treatment assurances and the credibility of these quality claims. Using data from a Canadian survey targeted at two distinct samples – a general population group and members of animal welfare organisations – a discrete choice experiment is used to assess consumer attitudes towards animal welfare assurances for pork products. The credibility of quality verification by public sector, private sector and third party agents is assessed. Evidence confirms that consumer preferences for farm animal welfare assurance and the source of verification are indeed heterogeneous. Although a portion of consumers remain largely indifferent to pork products with animal welfare assurances, a group of highly motivated consumers exist with an economic incentive to lobby for tougher animal welfare standards.     

Urban population looking for rural landscapes: Different appreciation patterns identified in Southern Europe

In the context of the peripheral European rural landscapes, the role of the urban population, generally referred to as the ‘outsiders’, has shown to be influential in the dynamics of rural space. This influence occurs namely through the demand for non-productive functions leading to the emergence of new modes of occupancy. In addition, the emerging policy framework concerning policies and planning in rural landscapes call for an improved understanding of the diversified social demands for these landscapes. We argue that a more profound knowledge on the urban demand for rural landscape is needed to better integrate the urban interests into rural policy and planning. The present paper aims to gain greater insight on this demand by identifying landscape preferences of urban users, framed by the multifunctional transition theory, and using a photo-based survey with contrasting land covers derived from CORINE Land Cover classes. Furthermore, the use of land cover classes as the main landscape component, and thereby relating preferences to specific land covers, offers a sound basis for a territorial approach, able to integrate landscape into rural policy and land use planning practice. A case-study in Southern Portugal was developed at the regional scale and results showed different appreciation patterns for rural landscapes varying from humanised and more naturalised landscapes according to the different functions sought by urban users. Another prominent result is that urban demand for rural landscapes, even if driven by consumption, is strongly influenced by both protection and production values. A deeper knowledge on the interests of urban population can be a step forward for rural communities, land managers, and sectoral policy decision-makers to better define investment strategies in rural-urban partnerships facing the growing urban demand over rural space.     

珠江三角洲社会养老保险城乡一体化的探索与深化

本文研究珠江三角洲社会养老保险城乡一体化的探索路径,指出目前仍然存在的主要问题,并对今后的深化发展提出对策建议。珠江三角洲社会养老保险城乡一体化的探索形成了建立全市统一社会养老保险制度、“农保”转“城保”和建立城乡居民养老保险制度三种路径。目前存在的主要问题是制度“碎片化”依然存在,城乡养老保障水平差距较大,农村居民参加养老保险的集体福利倾向严重。珠江三角洲继续推进社会养老保险城乡一体化,应加大制度整合力度,加大财政投入力度,防止和克服农村居民参保的集体福利主义倾向。     

Rural Amenity Values and Length of Residency

New residents of rural communities are often assumed to have preferences for development and conservation that differ from those of longer-term residents. However, the literature offers little to quantify presumed preference heterogeneity. This article assesses whether stated preferences differ according to length of residency. Results are based on a conjoint (choice experiment) survey of Rhode Island rural residents. Heterogeneity—according to length of town residency—is modeled using dummy variables, multiplicative interactions, and Lagrangian interpolation polynomials. Results are compared across the three models, and identify a range of attributes for which willingness to pay depends on length of residency.     

农村公共产品供给中的政府责任担当:基于扩大内需视角

扩大农村消费需求对于拉动经济增长具有重要作用,增加农村公共产品供给又是扩大农村消费需求的关键。增加农村公共产品供给不仅能够缓解农村贫困、提高农民收入,而且能够直接提高农村消费能力。总量不足是我国农村公共产品供给中存在的主要问题,体现为农村基础设施建设落后,农村教育、医疗卫生及社会保障事业城乡差距明显。农村公共产品供给不足的原因主要在于政府责任的缺失。增加农村公共产品供给,政府应切实统筹城乡发展,加大对农业、农村的投入力度,合理界定纵向间政府职责、建立政府间责任分担机制,建立体现农民偏好的决策机制、提高供给效率,强化农村公共产品市场化改革中的政府责任。     

Consumers’ Preferences for Bread: Transgenic,Cisgenic, Organic or Pesticide‐free?

Consumers are apprehensive about transgenic technologies, so cisgenics, which limit gene transfers to sexually compatible organisms, have been suggested to address consumer concerns. We study consumer preferences for rye bread alternatives based on transgenic or cisgenic rye, grown conventionally or without the use of pesticides, relative to traditionally bred rye, grown with conventional or organic farming methods. Stated preference (SP) data from a choice experiment are combined with revealed preference (RP) data from market purchases from the same respondents. Results show that respondents prefer pesticide‐free production methods, and that while cisgenics is preferred over transgenics, the majority of respondents favour traditional breeding methods. The distribution in preferences suggests that some respondents prefer bread from cisgenic crops produced without pesticides over traditional crops produced using pesticides. Preferences for organic bread are stronger than for pesticide‐free products. From a policy perspective results suggest that excluding cisgenics from mandatory labeling in the EU, or including it in the voluntary non‐GM labelling in the US, would cause welfare losses for consumers.     

A critical assessment of the political preference function approach in agricultural economics

The policy preference function (ppf ) approach has become popular with economists seeking to explain the origin of government policies. In this paper, a distinction between positive and normative work with the ppf concept is made. Positive work is shown to suffer from a variety of shortcomings including the misspecification of traditional ppfs and the failure to consider the importance of institutions, constraints and the interaction between different commodity policies. These weaknesses are reflected in the counter-intuitive results of a simple ppf model designed to reflect the interaction between the EC's wheat and barley policies. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that ppf weights change as a result of both political preferences and market parameters. Hence, changes in ppf weights cannot be attributed to changes in preferences alone. Tests of the axioms of revealed preference theory are used to demonstrate that even though ppf weights derived for the EC's wheat and barley markets have fluctuated considerably since the early 1970s, we are not able to conclude that there has been a shift in political preferences. The paper concludes with some comments about the use of ppfs in a normative framework. The underlying assumption that policy-makers optimise seems, not surprisingly, often to lead practitioners to the conclusion that observed policies are not so bad after all. Economists should also beware of the tendency to overlook possible differences between the ppf and the social welfare function.     

农村宅基地限制交易的正当性

研究目的:分析是否应当禁止农村宅基地在城乡之间自由交易。研究方法:深度访谈法和比较分析法。研究结果:在宏观上,宅基地对于农民而言是一种社会保障福利,允许其自由交易,农民必定是最终的受损者,而各种社会强势群体才会成为真正的受益者;在微观上,农村宅基地自由交易以后会破坏村庄伦理,加剧村庄内部的不平等。研究结论:限制农村宅基地自由交易具有正当性。     

Pricing a rural development program: uncertainty,indifference, and protest behaviors

This article presents an econometric approach to modeling uncertainty, unwillingness to pay, and protest behavior in contingent valuation studies. For that purpose, a mixture model with sample selection is developed for a multiple‐bounded uncertainty elicitation format. The proposed theoretical framework is applied to evaluate the social welfare impact of implementing a sustainable rural development program. Results show that a “naive” analytical approach that excludes protesters from the analysis would result in significantly higher willingness to pay estimates for those individuals who favor the implementation of the program and agree to reveal their true reservation prices.     

农地城市流转前后农民福利变化研究——基于农民分化的视角

农地城市流转是土地资源要素在城市化进程中重新配置的必然过程。为探明异质化日益明显的农民群体的福利水平在此过程中是否发生了差异性变动,采用湖北省武汉市所辖6个远城区的问卷调查数据,运用模糊积分评价方法对纯农业生产者、半工半农者和经商兼农者等3种分化类型农民在农地城市流转前后的福利变动情况进行了实证研究。结果表明,农民整体福利水平在农地城市流转后略有上升;3种分化类型农民的福利水平均有所改善,但改善程度存在差异,改善幅度由大至小依次为经商兼农类农民、半工半农类农民和纯农业生产类农民;提升纯农业生产者和半工半农者这两个分化类型的福利水平是改善农民整体福利状况的关键;此外,影响这两类群体福利水平的因素集中在家庭经济状况、社会保障状况、心理感受以及环境条件4个方面。     

农村集体非农建设用地直接上市:市场失灵与其政策矫正

研究目的:研究中国农村集体非农建设用地直接上市陷于困境的制度之源,探讨农村集体非农建设用地直接上市的政策矫正。研究方法:局部均衡分析和交易费用分析。研究结果:中国现行法律法规对农村集体非农建设用地直接上市限制不当以及集体非农建设用地产权残缺提升了市场交易费用,减弱了当事人的集体非农建设用地供求,影响了交易效率,降低了社会福利。研究结论:必须"尊重农民土地财产权利",在明晰农村集体非农建设用地产权基础上,赋予农村集体非农建设用地直接上市的权利,从消除制度障碍、明晰土地产权等角度克服中国集体非农建设用地直接上市的瓶颈。     

适应乡村振兴战略的新型农村住房制度构建设想

在新时期经济社会结构转型和城乡发展关系重塑的背景下,农村住房制度对促进城乡要素流动和助力乡村振兴具有重要意义。本文通过对多个宅基地制度改革试点地区的政策研究、实地调查和访谈,对农民工城乡生活状况的问卷调研,深入分析了我国农村住房发展现状和存在的问题,探究建立适应乡村振兴战略和农村住房需求的新型农村住房制度的意义。基于乡村振兴战略、住房需求层次和农村住房双重属性的理论认识,阐释建立农村新型住房制度的理论意义。从宅基地制度的局限性入手,发现宅基地所固有的成员权属性、福利属性及权能模糊性,是造成制度桎梏与现实发展的诸多矛盾的根源所在。据此,本文提出了构建以满足多层次住房需求的农村住房供应体系及与之相适应的农村住宅用地供应体系为主的新型农村住房制度,并对其影响、效果以及试点实践的可行性进行讨论。新型农村住房制度的建立,为从根本上解决农村住房发展困境,推进乡村振兴战略实施提供可行路径。     

Consumer willingness to pay for chicken welfare attributes in Kenya

Abstract

This study provides new insights on consumer preferences for chicken welfare attributes in a developing country context. Further, the inclusion of chicken transportation methods as an attribute is a useful contribution to empirical literature. Choice experiment survey data from 200 chicken consumers in Kenya were analyzed using random parameter logit model. Consumers had a positive preference for use of certified transportation, humanely slaughtered chicken and welfare labeling. However, there was a negative preference for using antibiotics in chicken production. Relative to the current price of chicken meat, consumers were willing to pay a premium of 30% for use of certified transport, 72% for animal welfare labeling, 135% for humane slaughter, 236% for nonuse of growth hormones and 40% less for chicken reared in confined systems.     

Chinese animal product consumption in the 1990s

Chinese animal product consumption behaviour was analysed for both urban and rural households using a complete regional consumption dataset that was augmented to include away-from-home consumption. Seven animal product expenditure share equations were estimated with an extended Almost Ideal Demand System model. The results suggest that Chinese consumers will continue to increase their consumption of animal products, but that consumption patterns have changed in the 1990s. A large percentage of household animal product expenditure is still on pork. However, the shares for aquatic and poultry products consumption will increase substantially. As a consequence, the pork expenditure share will be gradually reduced as incomes grow and diet preferences change in both urban and rural households. There are significant differences in animal product consumption preferences across regions of China. As a result, studies that omit regional dummy variables in their demand systems can produce different expenditure and price parameters. The present paper also found that many of the estimates of elasticities and marginal expenditure shares would be rather different if the data ignored consumption away from home.