Serfdom and social capital in Bohemia and Russia1

The ‘horizontal’ social capital generated by networks and communities is widely regarded as inherently antagonistic to ‘vertical’ hierarchies such as serfdom. This article examines this view using evidence from pre‐Emancipation Bohemia and Russia. It finds that serf communes generated a substantial ‘social capital’ of shared norms, common information, and collective sanctions. But communal social capital was manipulated by village elites who collaborated with overlords in taxation, land regulation, and demographic control. This benefited communal oligarchies, but harmed ordinary serfs and the wider economy. Horizontal social capital and vertical hierarchies, the article demonstrates, can as easily collude as conflict.     

西藏封建农奴制度走向灭亡的历史逻辑

西藏封建农奴制度脱胎于吐蕃灭亡的纷争分裂格局中,以农奴主对农奴的残酷剥削为主要表现形式,以政教合一制度为最显著特征,以宗教对农奴的精神钳制为主要控制手段。自公元10世纪形成到公元13世纪确立,在上千年的历史长河中,西藏封建农奴制度经历了萌芽形成期、发展鼎盛期,虽然在一定时期内推动了西藏经济社会的发展,但后期愈发成为西藏发展进步的桎梏,最终随着西藏民主改革走向了灭亡。西藏封建农奴制度走向灭亡有其必然的历史逻辑,即落后的社会制度,如果固守不变、排斥变革,就必然落后于时代,也注定被人民推翻、被历史埋葬。     

欠发达农区村域农业结构转型动力机制探析——以中牟县特色农业专业村为例

经过30多年改革和发展,我国进入一个崭新发展阶段。面对农村经济新的形势,我国农业生产结构性矛盾日益突出,欲实现农业的进一步发展以及强化其对农民收入的贡献能力,必须改变传统的农业结构,建立起以市场为导向、以质量和效益为中心的新型农业结构。而要实现农业结构转型,就必须有促进转型的动力因素支持。本文以中牟县特色农业专业村为例分析了欠发达农区村域农业结构转型的动力机制,指出要有效地发挥结构转型对增加农民收入和促进村域经济发展的作用,关键任务在于完善结构转型所需要的一系列动力机制。     

The influence of policy on the roles of agriculture in South Africa

This article provides a framework for the analysis of the relationship between different macroeconomic, sector and commodity policies and the multiplier effects of agriculture. It starts with a listing of the macroeconomic, sector and commodity policies that have been included in the analysis. These should be considered in conjunction with the likely roles of agriculture along each of the dimensions of the social, poverty and cultural roles of agriculture. These policies and roles should be conceptualised as the vertical and horizontal axes respectively of a ‘policy role’ matrix. The ‘cells’ of this matrix – the policy role interactions – are discussed with respect to the immediate macroeconomic, agricultural, economic, institutional and social impact of the policy change on the agricultural sector at farm, regional, national and multinational levels, and thereafter on the role of agriculture in terms of each of the dimensions identified above.     

村庄直选背景下的标尺竞争与农村公共品供给

本文探讨了中国农村的民主直选制度对农村公共品供给的影响及其作用机制。基于南京市第二次农业普查的全部村级数据,我们使用三种不同的指标度量农村公共品投资,在控制了地区虚拟变量、村庄规模、收入水平、村长特征等因素之后,研究发现竞选压力所形成的标尺竞争是影响公共品供给的主要机制,在缺乏对村长是否尽职的充分信息时,临近地区成为衡量本地村长绩效的标尺,因此相邻地区的公共品供给对本地的公共品供给有显著的正向作用。并且,我们还发现当控制了标尺竞争之后,村长的特征变得不再显著,这说明村长能力本身并不影响公共品供给,而是村庄直选使得选举出来的村长更加向村民负责。     

北京市种植业“一村一品”村农业产业竞争力研究

以北京市58个种植业“一村一品”村为研究对象,选取种植业“一村一品”村农业产业相关指标。首先,通过因子分析将筛选出的投入方面与产出方面原始评价指标分别进行降维处理,从而构建简化且合理的评价指标。其次,运用组合赋权超效率DEA模型,对种植业“一村一品”村农业产业效率值进行评价分析。最后,运用ESDA模型分析空间因素对“一村一品”村农业产业竞争力的影响,研究其农业产业竞争力是否存在空间相关性,探索种植业“一村一品”村农业产业竞争力在空间分布格局上的联系。结果表明：种植业“一村一品”村农业产业竞争力整体较强,但村间差异较大;农业产业竞争力具有空间相关性,存在集聚效应。据此,提出培育新型经营主体、选准高质量特色产业、协调各区域内互补发展、加强跨区域科技合作交流等建议,推动北京市种植业“一村一品”村农业产业竞争力提升。     

Rethinking Industrial Policy for Low Income Countries

Abstract: The governments of low income countries should be giving more attention to ‘industrial policy’ than they and the aid donors have given in the past quarter century. (‘Industrial policy’ means any sectorally or activity‐targeted interventions, including in agriculture and services.) The first step is to discard the common assumption that industrial policy is about ‘picking winners’. The second step is to realize that industrial policy can be done ‘big’ or ‘small’, and by ‘leading the market’ or by ‘following the market’. It can be tailored to the available resources and state capacity. The third step is to see that the key issues of industrial policy are less to do with ‘what activities should be encouraged?’, or ‘what sorts of policy instruments are best?’, and more to do with, ‘how do we organize a process of discovery of sensible objectives and policies?’, and ‘how do we organize a constant nudging of producers to upgrade, diversify, link up with foreign firms?’ (where the nudging effort has to be targeted at some activities and sectors more than others). The paper illustrates with East Asian examples. One of the good effects of the current global crisis is that it has shaken confidence in the virtues of lightly regulated markets and free capital movements, and opened the way to a less ideologically charged debate about the role of the state in development—in which thinking is not precluded by easy jeers like ‘governments can't pick winners’ or ‘maybe the East Asians can do it but you can’t, so you have nothing to learn about industrial policy from them’.     

Road transport productivity in the sixteenth‐century Low Countries: the case of Brabant, 1450–1650†

Though there is a consensus that transport plays a central role in economic development, for the period before the eighteenth century there is a lack of strategic information for assessing the importance of road transport productivity changes in economic development. Transport prices in particular are crucial missing pieces of the puzzle. Sources rarely reveal information that meets the standards of reliable price history. However, it is possible to create a reliable transport price series on the basis of the transport of millstones to ducal mills in Brabant. Assessing the impact of the ‘transport productivity changes’ that can be inferred from this transport price series is a hazardous exercise. Moreover, as Masschaele has observed, land transport prices closely match general agricultural price trends. Land transport was essentially an agricultural service, determined both by cost (especially horse provender) and income effects. Transport price inflation was not demand‐led. However, while transport did not impede urbanization and economic growth, conversely, in sixteenth‐century Brabant—a highly urbanized region that experienced considerable growth in the volume of land transport—no significant land transport productivity gains were achieved.     

Youth engagement in agricultural policy processes in Malawi

This study assesses the nature of networking between youth and agricultural policy-makers – given youth disillustionment with agricultural livelihoods. Using the Malawi case, a mixed-methods approach shows, first, that local government departments which are mandated to work on youth issues are the main hubs of information for youth in agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture plays a secondary role. Second, the study shows that youth in agriculture have little or no direct interactions with each other. Therefore, youth remain on the periphery of agricultural policy-making and their role in shaping agricultural policy dialogue is negligible. This is attributable to both lack of a deliberate government policy to include the youth and lack of a unified youth platform. The onus is therefore on the youth to ensure that they are effectively engaged in agricultural policy dialogue. The study concludes with policy recommendations relevant for countries with a ‘youth/agriculture’ problem like Malawi.     

PARTICIPATORY RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN 1930s JAPAN: THE ECONOMIC REHABILITATION MOVEMENT

This paper studies an early participatory rural development program implemented during the 1930s in Japan. This program selected several villages each year to draft and implement their own original development plans. I discuss the implications of the features of the program on its effectiveness. A detailed baseline survey conducted by the villagers themselves helped them to objectively diagnose their economic situations and understand their issues. The plans defined clear numerical targets, allowing them to share goals and monitor progress. The implementation of the plan was reinforced by frequent communication and monitoring among neighbors and by an incentive scheme that involved competition within a village. I use a village‐level panel dataset from Hyogo Prefecture to examine the effects, under the difference‐in‐differences strategy. I find suggestive evidence that the program helped foster the adoption of cattle raising and diversify agricultural production.     

Deal with it! The emergence and reversal of an agro-ecological crisis,Southern Sweden in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

The European Early Modern period provides examples of stagnating and even declining production and energy consumption per capita, which can be interpreted as indicators of an emerging crisis. With a focus on agriculture sector, some have suggested that the crisis was ‘conditional’ – meaning that a crisis can only be observed in some cases. This article investigates one such case, a village in Southern Sweden during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and investigates the mechanisms that mediate population growth to deteriorating living standards and environmental degradation. It provides new insights into the conditions of pre-industrial agriculture, particularly as regards the consequences of intensified demand pressure in ecologically fragile areas, and argues that human societies must be studied in tandem with their natural surroundings.     

建立现代农业与促进农村劳动力转移的矛盾及破解

大量农村轻壮年劳动力的转移使现代农业的建设缺乏必要的人力资源,如何解决两者的矛盾关系到现代农业的建立和新农村建设的成败。对此,我们应该站在新农村建设的大局上来看待两者的关系,通过积极引导外出青年回乡创业和支持大学生到农村发展来实现在促进农村劳动力转移的同时更好地发展现代农业。     

农村经济的新亮点：生态农业与农业生态旅游的互动

本文以广西恭城瑶族自治县生态农业与农业生态旅游相结合的实践案例的研究分析,我们可从中获得启示:生态农业的建设是对农业生态旅游资源的创新构筑,农业生态旅游理念影响着生态农业村落的社区建设,农业生态旅游节事活动的策划有效地促进了生态农业经济效益的回收,生态农业与农业生态旅游的结合存在新的创收增长点。     

攀枝花现代农业物流发展探讨

现代农业物流是降低农产品流通成本、增强农产品竞争力、促进农村经济发展的必要条件。大力发展现代农业物流,对于增强攀枝花农业综合竞争力、调整优化农业产业结构、提高农业经济效益具有十分重要的意义。     

Villages where China's ethnic minorities live

This paper investigates how ethnic minorities in rural China are faring compared with the ethnic majority. The village is the unit of analysis and large surveys for 2002 are used. Minority villages in northeast China are found to have a somewhat better economic situation than the average majority village, but minority villages in the southwest are clearly faring worse. Industrialisation, inputs in agricultural production, stock of human capital of the labour force, wage level on the local labour market as well as indicators of path dependency are all found to affect the economic situation of a village. Location is the single most important circumstance working against a favourable economic situation for minority villages in the northwest and particularly the southwest. Low village income results in long-distance migration for many ethnic minorities, but for some minorities their ethnicity hinders migration.     

六安市农业剩余劳动力转移的探讨

地处皖西地区的六安市是一个人口大市、农业大市，在农业剩余劳动力转移问题上表现得尤为滞后与迟缓。影响因素主要有转移主体的素质制约、庞大的人口基数、转移过程的社会环境制约等。为加快皖西地区经济发展，促进农业剩余劳动力转移，一是大力开展职业技能培训；二是大力发展乡镇企业；三是加快城镇化的进程：四是加快发展农村第三产业；五是设施制度革新，彻底转移农业剩余劳动力。     

免征农业税后乡村财政解困措施研究

农业税取消后,中央和地方应采取多种措施解决乡村财政困难。国家需要加大转移支付的力度,弥补乡村因减免农业税而减少的收入。乡村需要不断发展经济,提高效益,壮大财源,增加财政收入。精简乡镇党政事业机构,减少财政开支。实行教师全员聘用制度。采取多种手段化解农村债务。建立农村义务教育分担机制,确保义务教育正常发展。     

新冠肺炎疫情对我国农业发展的影响与应对举措

新冠肺炎疫情的爆发对粮食种植业、畜牧养殖业、种业、休闲农业、农产品加工业、蔬菜业、水果业、花卉业等产业发展,都会带来一定的负面影响。为减少新冠肺炎疫情的负面影响,推动农业健康发展,应保障粮食和重要农产品供给,抓好春耕春播工作,保障乡村道路运输通畅,在南方地区推广稻田综合种养模式,发展生态高值农业和"康养业+富硒+农业",尽快推进饲料企业和屠宰加工企业复工复产,加大对农业产业的金融支持力度,降低农业经营成本,鼓励发展以村为单位的农业社会化服务组织,大力培育农产品销售新业态,建立政府、企业和市场互动的农业灾害救助体系。     

The fourth mobilization: New phase of the Tachai movement

By the early 1970s the ‘Learn from Tachai’ campaign in China was seen there as having had a marked effect in increasing agricultural production. In 1975 the movement was made the subject of a national conference and then launched afresh on a broader and more intense scale, with the unit for emulation becoming the country rather than the village. It is now commensurate with the great mass movements of the 1950s which transformed China's rural society. The paper describes the new movement, illustrating its impact from the writer's field experience. (The paper may be seen as a sequel to the writer's ‘Learning from Tachai’, World Development. Vol. 3, Nos. 7 & 8 (July – August 1975)).     

Migration Experience of Village Leaders and Local Economic Development： Evidence from Rural China

This paper examines the impact of migration experience of village leaders on local economic development,based on the village-level data of the 2005 China General Social Survey.Our results show that the human capital of village leaders accumulated during the migration period has had a positive effect on per capita net income and per capita non-agricultural income in rural China.The migration experience of village leaders also plays a positive role in entrepreneurial activities in rural regions.From a policy perspective,these findings call attention to the importance of harnessing potential benefits of return migration to local economic development in rural China.