Livestock as a buffer against HIV and AIDS income shocks in the rural households of Zimbabwe

The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which households use livestock sales to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS income shocks. Using survey data from the Muzarabani and Bindura districts of Mashonaland Central Province in Zimbabwe, the econometric analysis indicated that livestock, particularly poultry and small stock, play a significant role in smoothing income fluctuations due to HIV/AIDS. Cattle sales compensate for 71 per cent of income shortfalls due to HIV/AIDS. About 90 per cent of HIV/AIDS-afflicted households, headed mainly by women or children, used poultry and goats as consumption-smoothing strategies when faced with negative income shocks. Government and other stakeholders were advised to support the use of small stock as a strategy for coping with HIV/AIDS economic shock in female- or child-headed households in rural areas.     

减税降费有助于缩小中国家庭经济不平等吗——来自2011年个税改革的证据

共同富裕要求我们从多维视角审视物质层面的不平等，在当前减税降费的大背景下，个人所得税是调控收入分配的关键手段。文章从收入、消费和财产所构成的多维经济不平等视角出发，对2011年个人所得税改革调节家庭经济不平等的效应进行了探讨。研究发现：个人所得税改革的公平效应是显著的，使经济不平等程度下降了13.64%，其中对城市地区的调节效应更强，对低福利阶层和高福利阶层的影响相对显著。在作用机制方面，个人所得税改革主要影响收入不平等，并进一步作用于消费不平等和财产不平等，最终影响经济不平等。为充分发挥个人所得税的调节效应，应逐步提高个人所得税比重，补充和细化专项附加扣除项目与标准，逐步以家庭为基础征收个税。     

Social Assistance Amidst the COVID-19 Epidemic in South Africa: A Policy Assessment

In an attempt to minimise the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable households the South African government allocated R50 billion in additional social assistance spending. The cash transfer package included a temporary increase in existing grants and introduced a new “Covid grant.” We assess the chosen package and compare it with an initial proposal to increase the Child Support Grant (CSG). Coverage, cost and welfare effects are calculated to measure the relative impacts in each case. We find that while a significant increase in the CSG delivers resources most progressively, the addition of the COVID-19 grant may potentially reach a much larger group of otherwise uncovered, vulnerable individuals. Critically, this extended coverage comes at a cost to the poorest households, via additional transfers to the upper income deciles. However, we identify several categories of vulnerable household groups which suggests that the workers most negatively affected by the pandemic are not necessarily those in the poorest households. The paper emphasises that social assistance to mitigate the consequences of COVID-19 should not be viewed necessarily as a standard poverty reduction exercise, but rather as an attempt to mitigate COVID-19-related income shocks for the vulnerable who were most negatively affected by the pandemic.     

基于VAR模型的安徽省经济增长因素实证分析

针对安徽省1980-2012年度数据,利用VAR模型和现代计量经济学方法对安徽省近30年的GDP、固定资产投资、居民人均收入和全社会零售商品总额进行了实证分析,结果表明:各经济变量之间在数量之间有着密切的联系,且各经济变量对GDP的影响程度从大到小依次为固定资产投资、全社会零售商品总额和居民人均收入。     

日本公路特色驿站助力乡村振兴的经验与启示

20世纪90年代以后,日本总结过去乡村产业发展的经验,在离村落较近的公路枢纽旁建设了能容纳各类产业进驻的公路服务综合体。这种被称之为公路特色驿站的设施实际上是一种汇集乡村各类产业的小型产业园区,凭借其成功的功能设置和合作网络实现了经济效益和社会效益的高度统一,为我国实施乡村振兴战略提供了新思路。在以"地产地消"为主要特征的直卖所模式的基础上,我国可以进一步借鉴公路特色驿站这类农工商一体化经营模式的有益经验,从而更有效地推进农村一二三产业融合发展和实现农民增收。     

Brazilian socioeconomic development: Issues for the eighties

Since 1964 Brazil has experienced rapid economic growth, exclusionary politics and a persistently unequal distribution of income. After 1973 rapid growth was maintained only at the cost of accelerating inflation and massive foreign borrowing, while a process of political liberalization was begun. A change in economic development strategy could increase the number of jobs created per unit of capital invested, concentrate benefits on those who have least profited from the growth process to date, decrease imports, and increase the productivity of the poor. Such a strategy, the outlines of which can be found in Brazil's Third National Development Plan, makes good social as well as economic sense.     

Urban agriculture,gender and empowerment: An alternative view

Studies of urban agriculture (UA) in South Africa, and more broadly in southern Africa, have drawn on quantitative research methodologies to explain the involvement in UA of people from low-income households. Such studies tend to explain UA with reference to the direct economic and monetary gains that are made through agricultural activity. In Cape Town, the contribution of UA to income generation and expenditure substitution is limited. However, UA is important to women of low-income households in ways less directly related to monetary gain. Women use UA in processes of empowerment, to establish social networks, to symbolise a sense of security and to encourage community development. Policy-makers should extend their perception of UA's benefits beyond narrow economistic notions to include these positive social effects.     

农民专业合作社对农户生产效益的影响——基于湖南葡萄种植行业的调研分析

以湖南长沙、岳阳、娄底、怀化、常德70家葡萄园农户的生产资料作为研究样本,对农民专业合作社与农户生产效益的关系进行研究,结果显示：农民专业合作社社员与非社员农户之间存在生产效益的差异,非社员在葡萄销售价格、每亩资金成本、每亩收入、每亩净收入这四个生产效益指标上都低于社员,体现出加入专业合作社的优越性。为鼓励更多农户入社,建议增加农民专业合作社示范点,并且增加对农民专业合作社特色农产品的扶持,使农业增产、农民增收,推动我国农业现代化进程。     

An Economic Theory of Avant-Garde and Popular Art,or High and Low Culture

Artists face choices between the pecuniary benefits of selling to the market and the nonpecuniary benefits of creating to please their own tastes. We examine how changes in wages, lump-sum income, and capital-labor ratios affect the artist's pursuit of self-satisfaction versus market sales. Using our model of labor supply, we consider the economic forces behind the high/low culture split, why some artistic media offer greater scope for the avant-garde than others, why so many artists dislike the market, and how economic growth and taxation affect the quantity and form of different kinds of art.     

Selling the Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Professional Sports through Taxable Sales

Sports leagues, franchises, and civic boosters tout the economic benefits of professional sports as an incentive for host cities to construct new stadiums or arenas at considerable public expense. Past league-sponsored studies have estimated that new stadiums, franchises, and mega-events such as the Super Bowl increase economic activity by potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in host cities. A detailed regression analysis of taxable sales in Florida over the period extending from 1980 to 2005 fails to support these claims. New stadiums, arenas, and franchises, as well as mega-events, appear to be as likely to reduce taxable sales as increase them. Similarly, strikes and lockouts in professional sports have not systematically lead to reductions in local taxable sales.     

The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment: evidence from China

The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment remains controversial, as documented in the microfinance literature. While some studies claim that microcredit helps women increase their income earning abilities, leading to greater power to overcome cultural asymmetries, others contend that small loans allocated to women are usually controlled by their spouses, which results in more severe subordination of women and leaves them more vulnerable to the patriarchy system within the household and/or at society level. This paper evaluates the empowerment impact of microcredit on rural women in China. Logistic regression is employed for empirical analysis and data are collected through a rural household survey. The results confirm that microcredit has a significant impact on five dimensions of women's empowerment, ranging from economic security to awareness of social/legal issues.     

基于农户感知的森林碳汇扶贫效应分析

伴随着集体林权制度改革的深化和森林碳汇项目时间的深入,项目实施区域农户在森林碳汇项目实施、持续发展中的主体作用日益突出。农户对实施森林碳汇项目开发的价值评判决定其行为态度,在实现应对气候变化与减贫双赢中起着关键性作用。文章借鉴感知价值理论构建了农户森林碳汇扶贫效应感知价值理论模型,基于典型民族地区抽样调查数据,运用结构方程模型实证检验了农户对森林碳汇项目开发扶贫效应感知价值与其支持项目后期运营意愿的关系。研究结果显示,（1）大规模造林再造林项目开发取得较为明显的扶贫效应,包括正面影响和负面影响。（2）农户对森林碳汇扶贫开发利大于弊的赞成率为72.56%,农户愿意支持森林碳汇项目后期运营的赞成率为69.82%,利大于弊的感知价值对农户支持项目后期运营的意愿具有显著正向作用。（3）感知利益和感知风险直接影响森林碳汇扶贫效应感知价值。其中,感知利益具有显著正向影响,影响程度依次为感知经济利益 > 感知社会利益 > 感知生态利益,农户对触及自身切身利益的森林碳汇扶贫开发经济利益感知最高,尤其是对森林碳汇项目开发对外来投资引入的最为敏感。感知风险具有显著负向影响,影响程度依次为感知情境风险 > 感知心理风险 > 感知经济风险,鉴于长期、大面积的林业生态建设衍生负面影响日趋扩大和农户对近期、客观风险感知的敏感性使得农户对情景风险的感知最为强烈。     

Production of and trade in African indigenous vegetables in the urban and peri-urban areas of Durban,South Africa

This paper reports on the farming and trade of lesser known crops, here termed African indigenous vegetables (AIVs), in the Durban metropole. Most households grow AIVs, and collect them from the wild, primarily for home consumption. Modal income from sale was approximately R30 per month per farmer, most of whom were middle-aged to elderly females, with limited education, who had been cultivating AIVs here for many years. The main constraints to greater sales were deemed to be low market demand and adverse climate. The commonest AIVs grown were pumpkin leaves, taro and amaranth. Although most farmers sold very little, there is a thriving retail trade in AIVs. Generally, retailers were females, but younger and more educated than the farmers. The majority viewed retailing as a full-time occupation. Modal income for retailers was R450 per month, but included non-AIV produce. Most of the traders thought there was insufficient market demand for AIVs.     

农民专业合作社对于农民增收的效果研究

通过对典型区域特色产业联结农民专业合作社的农户与不联结农民专业合作社的农户的问卷调查,研究农户之间生产、销售、收入等方面的差异性,发现农民专业合作社与农民增收的关联性;并利用问卷数据,对农民专业合作社对于农民增收的效果进行定量研究。     

农村居民多维收入流动、税费负担及政策效应——基于面板数据PSM-DID方法的研究

收入流动性是从动态视角衡量居民收入分配公平与否的重要指标,其变动程度受到税收等因素的影响。文章基于2001年至2014年季度和年度面板数据,依据多维收入流动指标,测算出了地区之间农村居民绝对和相对收入流动程度,并利用双重差分倾向得分匹配法（PSM-DID）和工具变量估计法研究了农村税费改革及其他经济社会因素对农村居民收入流动性的影响。研究发现：（1）农村税费改革的政策效应非常显著,实施农业税费减免政策的地区,其农民的绝对收入流动性显著高于未改革地区;（2）税费负担对绝对收入流动性的影响呈现出"倒U型"特征,即当税费负担率为0.167%时,绝对收入流动性达到最大值,若进一步增加税费负担,收入流动性则呈现下降趋势;（3）税费支出变动对相对收入流动性的影响也通过了5%的显著性检验;（4）农村劳动力文化结构、工资收入比重等家庭特征因素对收入流动性的影响具有较大的地区异质性。有鉴于此,在进一步完善税费征收项目监管的同时,依据家庭及地区特征实施差异化的支农惠农政策,切实减轻农民负担,增强农村居民收入流动,实现地区间收入分配均衡。     

发展中国家工业化过程中的经济成果问题——以上世纪60年代至90年代的东亚和中南美洲为例

本文比较上世纪60年代至90年代间东亚和中南美的经济发展成果。作为东亚经济发展的成果不仅表现为宏观性的收入增加、收入分配的平等,经济发展改善了国民的经济福利。这也是东亚各国采用了出口志向工业化战略的成果,东亚各国把出口增加带来的果实用于经济的长期发展上。制造业的发展又带动农业和服务业部门的发展,实现了发展中国家长期盼望的国民经济发展的良性循环。而中南美人均收入尽管较高,但这集中于特定阶层,形成了与资产不平等相加的不平等社会。最终经济出现停滞、社会出现动乱。     

经济开发区生物质发电建设项目经济性评价

从生物质电站项目的建设期经济参数和运营期经济参数两个方面,构建生物质电站成本、收益、投资回收期计算模型。依据生物质发电相关经济参数,建立生物质电站经济效益计算模型。通过经济开发区生物质发电建设项目实例计算,对生物质经济、社会及环境效益进行系统分析,结果表明经济开发区生物质发电建设项目在技术、经济方面是可行的。     

Economic Status and Social Attitudes of Migrant Workers in China

Migrant workers, meaning those who used to be farmers but have left rural areas and found jobs in cities as a result of economic reform and rapid development in China, have made a significant contribution to the burgeoning labor market and played an important role in speeding up the transition from a planned to a market economy. This present paper considers the economic status and social attitudes of migrant workers. It is based on the analysis of a large‐scale survey in 2006, which was conducted using questionnaires and covered 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions throughout the country. It was found that the income status of migrant workers depends heavily on the education and technical skills that they have developed, rather than on identity‐based discrimination. Surprisingly, it was also found that those on less income and of lower economic and social status show more positive attitudes to society than those who are affluent and considered of higher social status. It is concluded that the decisive factor in attitude and behavior of migrant workers is historic rather than economic.     

Government spending and the distribution of economic growth

In the United States, total government spending, and especially government social spending, has increased greatly over the last 50 years. What effect this has had on economic growth is a subject of intense debate among politicians, policymakers, and economists. However, there has been less attention paid to the distributional effects of government spending even though economic inequality has grown greatly over the last generation and much social spending is at least indirectly intended to reduce inequality. The effects of government social spending in the United States on growth in family income at deciles of the income distribution were estimated. The results suggested that social spending but not non‐social spending was likely to increase growth in family income per capita measured over 10‐year intervals. The largest effects of social spending were for deciles below the median income. At no point in the distribution does social spending have a negative effect.