Hungarian agriculture: A model for the socialist world?

Hungary's status as a model in agriculture is examined in terms of its economic, social and political performance, its planning and organizational components and the contextual factors affecting its transferability. In economic and social performance the Hungarian strategy compares favourably with the rest of Eastern Europe and the USSR. Planning and institutional factors contributing to this performance include the New Economic Mechanism planning approach, autonomous agricultural producers' co-operatives, new structures for diffusion of technology, and integration of household producers into the commodity system. While the transferability of the model remains doubtful due to factors such as size, technical base, and political choices, increased participation in the world economy may force the USSR and the rest of Eastern Europe into reforms bearing some resemblance to those in Hungary.     

完善现代农村教育的功能 服务于社会主义新农村建设

教育为经济发展服务,教育与经济发展是相辅相成、相互促进的。在建设社会主义新农村进程中,更应该发挥农村教育功能,为农村经济发展奠定坚实的基础。本文从发挥人才再生产的功能、普及推广科技知识的功能、农民素质全面教育的功能和农村教育全面服务功能等角度来完善现代农村教育,从而加快社会主义新农村建设。     

Tenure security and productivity in small‐scale agriculture in Zimbabwe: Implications for South Africa

This article tests empirically the interaction between land tenure security and agricultural productivity in small‐scale agriculture in Zimbabwe. Data for the analysis were gathered during April and August of 1995 by means of an interview survey of farmers in the small‐scale commercial sector, communal area and Model A resettlement area of Zimbabwe. Two‐stage least squares regression estimates reveal that land tenure security has a positive and significant influence on investment incentives and agricultural productivity in the sample. This result has two important implications for proposed land reforms in South .. Africa. Firstly, the result lends support to the notion that indigenous tenure institutions in communal areas of South Africa are a constraint on agricultural development. Secondly, it is clear that a national land redistribution policy must be accompanied by innovative tenure institutions which facilitate economic interaction and internalise externalities on land resettled by individuals and groups. This is particularly important in South Africa where groups of up to 300 families are being settled on commercial farms under a group ownership model.     

Beyond catastroika: Prospects for market transition in the commonwealth of independent states

Conclusion The analysis of Soviet economic potential has long been marred by unstated judgments about the merits of collective ownership, price controls, egalitarianism, and administrative-command planning, to say nothing of political advocacy and commercial self-interest. The present is no exception. By and large commentators want to believe that the CIS can be swiftly refashioned into some acceptable form of market socialism that suits its purposes and those of the developed West [Kovalev, 1991; Lipton and Sach, 1991; Ozherel'ev, 1991].Careful analysis of the behavioral properties of state-directed market socialism however reveals that this is highly improbable. Both the system Gorbachev built and and the one to which the present leadership aspires are fundamentally disordered [Gorbachev, 1984; Yavlinsky, 1991; Yeltsin 1991], and are apt to thwart all eclectic attempts at achieving a transition to a self-directed market. The impass is not insoluable, but the proliferation of hare-brained schemes that has characterized perestroika is not encouraging [Shatalin, 1990; Allison and Blackwill, 1991; Rosefielde 1991(c)].     

建设社会主义新农村与农业产业化经营中的税收优惠政策研究

没有农村的现代化,就不会有全国的现代化,建设社会主义新农村是我国现代化进程中的重大历史任务。同时,世界各国农业现代化的道路证明,农业产业化是实现农业现代化的必要途径,也是我国农业发展的必然趋势。因此,关注和研究农业产业化和新农村建设具有时代的现实意义。     

Foreign capital and the prospects for Zimbabwe

Very little is known about the development or the structure of foreign ownership of the Rhodesian economy, because of the general inadequacy of statistics resulting from participation in federation in the 1950s and UDI. This paper is an attempt to put the story together, by a series of estimates, a rather heavy reliance on statistics published in 1964/1965, and an assessment of scattered information appearing more recently. It is concluded that although Rhodesian private capital is relatively much weaker than its South African equivalent, it is dominant in some important sectors. Some possible consequences of this for Zimbabwean prospects are considered.     

中国台湾农业劳动力要素的变化及其对大陆的启示

我国台湾农业是典型的“精致农业”。在其发展过程中,农业劳动力要素的数量和质量都发生了明显的变化,这一变化的结果是农业劳动力要素绩效的提高。台湾农业劳动力要素的这种变化对祖国大陆的农业发展有很大的启示。大陆应加大对农民的人力资本投入,加速农业剩余劳动力的转移,正视农业劳动力的老龄化问题。     

“准心理学自利主义”与社会主义市场经济

结合当代西方规范伦理学理论、古典经济学的市场经济理论和马克思主义理论,对现阶段的人性假设做一个基本判断:人们在采取行动的时候更容易为自己的利益而不是为他人利益所打动,笔者把它称作"准心理学自利主义"。这种人性假设是对人的心理特征的一种事实假定,而非主张利己主义的伦理规范。这种人性假设与亚当.斯密的"无形之手"具有相似性,与马克思关于社会主义个人与社会关系论述也具有一致性,但它不是极端的利己主义,而是有限制地发展个人利益,是既体现效率又倡导公正的人性假设。它是我们制定社会主义市场经济的实然基础,我国的社会主义市场经济是符合这种人性的"无形之手"和"有形之手"有机结合的科学社会主义。     

大力发展沿海都市型特色农业促进农业产业化现代化

2003年,天津汉沽区在认真调研的基础上,进一步明确了“尊重自然规律,遵循市场经济规律,立足本区资源优势,进一步巩固和提高沿海都市型特色农业”的发展目标,继续坚持把特色农业作为发展质量型、效益型农业的载体,开拓创新,勇于探索,努力使具有汉沽地方特色的农业发展之路越走越     

The transition to an advanced organic economy: half a millennium of English agriculture1

All organic economies were subject to constraints upon growth for reasons familiar to the classical economists, but their relative success in coping with these constraints differed substantially. This is visible both when comparing different areas at the same point in time and when comparing the circumstances of a given economy at different points in time. In this article the state of the English economy in 1300 is compared with its state in 1800. At the former date the balance between output and population was unfavourable. A run of poor harvests spelled grave and widespread suffering. Five hundred years later this had ceased to be true. The particular focus of the article is upon the significance of a rising level of productivity per head in agriculture, not simply in supplying food but in providing the raw materials and energy needed if industry and transport were to expand. In the circumstances of an organic economy both were heavily dependent upon the ‘surplus’ made available by a productive agriculture after meeting the needs of the population for food.     

Overpopulation and unemployment in Zimbabwe

The size of Zimbabwe's African population has grown dramatically over the past 50 years, with 5.7 children on average being born per woman. The following factors are responsible for the rapid population growth in Zimbabwe: the country's economic prosperity during the period of the Central African Federation from 1953 to 1963, and its successful food policy before and after independence; the success of the health system, also in both periods; and the fact that women have not been incorporated into the economy as wage-earners. A brief historical overview is presented, followed by sections on the food policy and health system, reasons for the persistence of large families, and the relationship between wage-earning by women and the birth rate. The author also describes some of the problems caused by overpopulation. Engaging more women in regular wage-earning employment is the key to controlling the birth rate in Zimbabwe. Current government policies encouraging female employment in government services and the economy in general, along with the expansion of contraceptive services, could influence female fertility over the long term.