Rural electrification and groundwater pumps in India: Evidence from the 1982–1999 period

India's groundwater extraction is heavily dependent on diesel pumps, and one reason is the lack of reliable power supply. The widespread use of diesel pumps is an economic problem due to the inefficiency and high cost of said pumps. Could rural electrification improve the situation? We estimate the relationship between village electrification and the counts of electric and diesel pumps in India, 1982–1999. We find that, in addition to increasing the number of electric pumps, rural electrification also greatly increases the number of diesel pumps. While initially surprising, these results make sense in an environment characterized by frequent power outages and constant quality problems. If rural electrification increases the number of electric pumps and promotes irrigated agriculture, the demand for diesel pumps also grows because many farmers need a reliable pump that does not depend on electricity. Without improvements in the supply of electricity through rational power sector reforms, India cannot stop the spread of diesel pumps through rural electrification. For energy and development economists, the results are novel because previous econometric work has largely focused on industrial uses of power.     

Indicative Planning—The New Zealand Experience

It is based on a paper presented to the 1st Conference of Australian and New Zealand Economists, in Melbourne, May 1970. The writer is greatly indebted to help given by Mr. W. A. E. Green, Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, in the preparation of this paper. Mr. Green is head of the Planning Division of the Treasury.     

AGRICULTURAL CO-OPERATION IN THE EASTERN STATES OF THE U.S.A

The Year-Book of Agricultural Cooperation, 1940, which has just been published by the Horace Plunkett Foundation (1) contains a detailed and extremely competent study on agricultural cooperation in the eastern part of the United States by Miss Margaret Digby, Secretary of the Foundation. The study is based on personal experience collected by the author during a tour in the spring of 1939.
We reproduce below the last chapter of this study in which Miss Digby summarises some of her observations.     

造园组创办始末

1951—1953年创办的造园组对中国风景园林学科 和教育影响深远。基于档案文件，以时间为序，描述造园组成 立的背景、沿革和办学情况，讨论造园组停办的主要原因。研 究表明：造园组隶属于北京农业大学园艺系，清华大学营建学 系合办，北京市人民政府建设局协办；汪菊渊、吴良镛、陈有 民以及梁思成等先生在造园组成立和建设之中发挥了重要的作 用；造园组是一个相对独立的教学和行政组织；造园组的成立 依赖于一系列的背景条件。     

乡村旅游——青城镇特色农业发展新思路

青城镇是兰州市榆中县下辖的一个小镇,曾有＂黄河第一古镇＂、＂千年古镇＂、＂风雅青城＂等美誉。近年来青城镇将农业生产、农村生活和文化旅游整合开发,走出了一条独具特色的发展之路,并取得了良好的成效,对其他地方发展乡村旅游具有一定的参考价值。     

农村信用社改革发展的制度经济学分析

信用社脱离农业银行以后如何发展，成为我国下一步金融体制改革中的一个重要问题，其问不仅牵涉我国的整体金融制度构建，更为重要的是将影响农村经济可持续发展。然而，从制度发展的角度分析，简单地恢复信用合作社的原始属性，不一定是效率最高的制度安排，必须结合农村经济发展对金融服务的要求及我国国情予以通盘考虑。     

The impact of rural electrification on income and education: Evidence from Bhutan

We investigate the impact of a rural electrification program on household income and children's schooling in rural Bhutan. Using propensity score matching, we find that electrification had a statistically significant impact on nonfarm income and education. Nonfarm income increased by 61 percent and children gained 0.72 additional years of schooling and 9 minutes of study time per day. We do not observe significant effects on farm income. Results are consistent and robust to different matching algorithms. Our findings indicate that investments in reducing energy deficit may help improve human welfare in Bhutan.     

农业院校在新型农民培养中存在的问题

新农民就是有文化、懂技术、会经营的农民,是“能民”。建设社会主义新农村的宏伟目标能否实现,很大程度上取决于农民素质。农业院校在新农民培养中发挥了巨大的作用,但也存在着一些亟待解决的问题：农业院校的专业设置有离农的倾向,农业院校离农村渐行渐速,其大学生不愿到农村工作,“一村一名大学生”的培养有脱离“三农”的倾向。这些都需要采取措施予以解决。     

论中国农村股份合作制的成因及意义

农村股份合作制是20世纪80年初在中国农村经济体制改革过程中产生的,从三农经济、制度缺陷、法律政策支持和国外农业合作社发展的必然趋势等四个方面分析其成因,在此基础上,探讨了它的法律界定和特征,最后阐述其意义,指出农村股份合作制是中国农民继家庭联产承包责任制后的又一伟大创造,它极大地促进了生产力的发展,在中国农村地区得到了广泛地应用。     

略论中国与东盟的环境保护合作

自2007年以来,中国与东盟的环保合作进程迅速展开,取得了一定的成绩。双方制订了《中国-东盟环保合作战略（2009~2015）》和《中国-东盟环境合作行动计划（2011~2013）》。虽然双边合作的机制化程度、深度和广度仍有待加强,但合作的前景看好,而且有望成为环境领域＂南南合作＂的典范。     

农业产业化对农民收入和农户行为的影响--以山东省龙口市为例

农业产业化是当今中国农业发展的热点，但产业化经营究竟能在多大程度上促进“三农”问题的根本转变，目前仍很少有人进行定量研究。文章以农业产业化起步较早的山东省龙口市为案例，通过生产调查和统计资料分析，对该问题做了初步研究。结果表明：尽管龙口市的乡村工业发展迅速且占据了农村经济的绝大部分，但与农民人均纯收入增长关系最为紧密的仍然是农业产业，其次才是农村第二、第三产业，这一结果应归功于农业产业化的发展。农户在家庭劳动力分配时，年老人趋向于从事农业生产，年轻人趋向于从事非农生产，许多农户将自家的劳动力投入到非农产业，同时又雇佣外地劳力从事自家的农业生产。     

论中国农地产权与农业增长的关联机理

农业的增长,要靠投入,包括劳动力、资金、技术、管理的投入。而所有这些要素投入的有效性是建立在适当的产权制度的模式下进行的。产权模糊,所有者缺位,导致交易不畅、经济增长乏力,我国历史上多次土地制度变迁与农业生产实际状况的关联性充分说明了这一点。如今,联产承包责任制开始带来的潜力也已释放殆尽。改革的趋势是进一步明眸完整产权,这是农业增长的根本。     

Formation of special economic zone,liberalized FDI policy and agricultural productivity

Formation of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) using agricultural land to promote industrialization has recently been one of the most controversial policy issues in many developing economies including India. This paper critically evaluates the consequences of this policy in terms of a three-sector Harris–Todaro type general equilibrium model characterizing a typical developing economy. It finds that agriculture and SEZ can grow simultaneously provided the government spends a substantial amount of its resources on irrigation projects and other infrastructural development designed at improving the efficiency of land. Agricultural wage and aggregate employment in the economy may also improve owing to this policy.     

REGIONAL FINANCE AND REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN CHINA

China's growth has recently been spectacularly high but there have been expressions of concern about its uneven regional distribution. It has been asserted that this has been partly due to national financial institutions (mainly state‐owned banks) redirecting deposits from poor to rich regions and that this will be improved by smaller regionally‐focussed institutions. We test these propositions using both informal analysis and more formal econometrics employing recent panel time‐series methods. We find that (i) there is no evidence that deposits are siphoned off from the poor provinces for loans in rich provinces; (ii) financial disparities are positively related to output disparities, (iii) the link is stronger for rural credit co‐operatives than for state‐owned banks and (iv) the relationship is causal in both the long and short runs.     

Let There Be Light: Social Enterprise,Solar Power,and Sustainable Development

Energy poverty is a major problem in the developing world, with nearly 1.3 billion people lacking household electricity. Strikingly, the electrification rate is not only low, but is falling in many countries as population growth outpaces efforts to give more people access to electricity. Seizing the opportunities presented by rapid changes in technology and the availability of renewable energy at continually falling costs, social enterprises have begun to light the darkness and fill in the gap between the public and private provision of electricity. We review the extent of energy poverty and explain why neither the public, nor the private sector has successfully addressed this problem. We also discuss institutional factors that have created an environment conducive to the spread of solar power. To illustrate the social enterprise response, we explain the sector’s three most common approaches to solar electrification. Since the potential benefits of any social innovation revolve around its scalability, we discuss various paths to scale before outlining A.T. Kearney’s “Social Enterprise Accelerator” model as a template for scaling up individual social businesses. To enable greater consistency with an institutional economic framework, we suggest an adaptation of the model. We conclude by highlighting potential benefits and challenges facing solar electrification, including the limits of social enterprise as a stand-alone solution to utility provision.     

我国农村劳动力非农就业的特征和影响因素分析

农村劳动力非农就业问题一直是我国农村经济发展中的一个重要课题。我国农村劳动力过剩问题长期以来制约着农村经济的发展和农民收入的增长。本文主要分析了我国农村劳动力非农就业的主要特征,从宏观和微观的层面具体阐述了影响农村劳动力非农就业的主要影响因素。     

从发展差距角度看民族地区建设小康社会的艰巨性——以新疆为例

全面建设小康社会,区域难点在民族地区,城乡难点在农村。少数民族地区的农牧区处于此二者的交汇处,属我国全面建设小康社会的难中之难。全面建设小康社会这一宏伟目标能否顺利实现,关键在于民族地区农牧区居民收入与生活水平是否能达到小康标准。从民族地区农村居民收入的增长趋势看,现阶段很难达到目标。因此,未来的关键是下大力气增加农牧民收入,并加快增长速度。     

Beyond associative democracy

This article proposes a cognitive and empirical approach, based on in-depth semi-structured elite interviews, to analyse the extent to which the dollar is becoming a negotiated international currency in the perception of financial elites in China, Brazil and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It shows that while the greenback is still the top currency in the system due to a lack of alternatives, its long term dominance is questioned because its economic pre-eminence and its political leadership are perceived to be fading. This in turn is stimulating financial elites in emerging markets to promote alternative regional monetary frameworks and the internationalisation of their own currencies. The article explores how financial elites in key dollar holding countries react to the US ‘exorbitant privilege’ of not facing disciplinary constraints in its economic policies. It then examines how the US has been able to misuse its central position in the system by delaying and deflecting adjustment costs upon others, and illustrates the disapproving response that this has provoked in emerging markets and Europe. Finally, it concentrates on Chinese proposals to renegotiate the status of the dollar in the system and why these have been hitherto rejected by the US.     

制度变迁下国有商业银行农村服务网络演化——以农业银行兰考县支行为例

经济转轨背景下农村的银行服务网络呈现出不同于城市的演化特征。从制度变迁角度建构分析框架,基于历史、调查与访谈数据,以农业银行兰考县支行为例,探讨我国商业银行农村服务网络演化动力机制。研究表明:国有商业银行农村服务网络经历了恢复成立后的快速扩张和密集的人工网点服务,市场化改革中农村业务收缩和大规模网点撤并,到新时期人工、自助、电子、代理等多元服务渠道扩张;农村银行服务网络演化是商业银行和制度环境相互作用的空间过程,普惠金融战略下我国特别强调金融服务的均等化和基础金融网点的全覆盖,商业银行不断借助新的伙伴关系开拓农村市场,其中合作代理日益发挥重要作用。不同地区、不同商业银行农村服务网络模式的差异,农村银行服务网络转型对农村社会经济发展、金融生态环境改善、农民金融素养提升的影响等还需进一步研究。     

我国71年农村科技扶贫变迁历程及演化进路研究

新中国成立71年来，我国农村科技扶贫工具、模式及制度不断创新演进，为我国不同历史时期扶贫开发工作贡献了应有的科技力量，至今初步形成了较为完备的农村科技扶贫服务体系。基于技术社会学及制度经济学相关原理，对我国71年农村科技扶贫的历史脉络、时代特征和演化进路进行系统阐述分析发现，其变迁先后历经了“开篇探索—制度突破—职能拓展—机制耦合—内涵发展—生态集成”等阶段，遵循“单一供给主体向多元供给主体转变、粗放型推进模式向内涵式推进模式转变、供给性主导向需求性主导模式转变、点线瞄准向生态集成转变”的演化轨迹。在此基础上，针对新时代如何形成供需耦合的农村科技扶贫长效机制，提出相关建议。