Social capital and Rotating Labor Associations in rural China

This paper studies social capital and households' participation in Rotating Labor Associations (ROLAs) in rural China. I employ both self-reported trust and the presence of village temple prior to 1949 as proxies for social capital. I find that households in communities with higher levels of social capital are more likely to participate in ROLAs, using household data collected from the Gansu province in China.     

Can Social Capital Reduce Poverty? A Study of Rural Households in Eastern Bhutan

This study examines the impact of social capital on the poverty of rural households in eastern Bhutan, with a particular focus on households' participation in community groups, which can be a proxy for the structural aspect of social capital. Using a two‐stage probit least squares simultaneous equation model, the present study reveals that social capital positively contributes to poverty reduction in Bhutan. This study also finds that non‐farm income is important for poverty reduction in rural areas. Our results, however, indicate that poor households in remote areas are discouraged from participating in community groups.     

健康冲击、社会资本与农户经济脆弱性——基于“CHIP2013”数据的实证分析

健康人力资本在农村经济中发挥着重要作用,农户健康受损时,会通过"劳动效应"、"挤占效应"和"情感效应"影响其经济脆弱性,而社会资本作为一种非正式机制,在血缘、地缘与业缘关系的连接下,通过及时获取信息与资源等对农户经济产生影响。文章利用"中国家庭收入调查2013"数据实证分析了健康冲击和社会资本对农户经济脆弱性的影响及作用机制。通过倾向得分匹配（PSM）和处理效应模型解决内生偏误问题、建立中介效应模型后,回归结果显示：健康冲击会通过挤占效应和情感效应两条渠道机制对农户经济产生负向影响,社会资本分项指标则通过信任渠道机制对农户经济产生正向影响;男性户主更易因遭受健康冲击而陷入经济脆弱困境,处于劳动年龄的户主在利用社会资本缓解经济脆弱性方面更具优势;而社会资本在缓解健康冲击对农户经济脆弱性中的作用并不显著,一个可能的原因是在农村社会中,社会资本等非正式机制逐渐被正式医疗保障机制所替代。在稳健性检验中,构造基于预期贫困定义的贫困脆弱性指标（VEP）进行替换变量回归,进一步证实所得结论。文章的政策涵义在于,应加强对于农户健康风险的管理,并重新挖掘社会资本在农村经济发展中的作用,从而缓解经济脆弱性,阻断贫困。     

社会资本的累积效应及其家庭福利改善

采用贫困家庭的调查数据,从社会资本的五个维度探讨累积效应对家庭福利的影响。这五个维度中,尤其是其中的社会网络规模、信任及其参与公共事务对家庭福利的影响系数为正,且在统计上显著。研究发现,对贫困家庭而言,社会资本的收入补偿效应很大。因此,在政策设计上,应提升贫困家庭的社会资本累积程度,从而提高贫困家庭的福利水平。     

Intergenerational income persistence and transmission mechanism: Evidence from urban China

In this paper I investigate the intergenerational income association and its transmission channels amid China's economic transition period using urban data from the Chinese Household Income Projects in 1995 and 2002. The estimated intergenerational income elasticity is 0.43 and 0.51 for cohorts educated prior to and after the market reform respectively, and reaches 0.71 among households with above average income in the post-reform era. Besides the conventional channel of education, this paper estimates the contribution from social capital and ownership of work unit across cohorts and income groups. There is weak evidence that prior to market reform, ownership of work unit contributes most to the intergenerational income persistence for households with below average income, while social capital leads the three contributors in households with above average income. However, in the post-reform era, parents with below average income invest statistically significantly in children's education which contributes most to the intergenerational income persistence. The leading contributor in families with above average income shifts to social capital. Possible explanations for such a shift lie in the ability and incentive of parents from different income categories to invest in their children. The results are tested through a series of robustness checks, and provide empirical support for promoting policies on the equality of opportunity.     

Micro-entrepreneurship in a hostile environment: evidence from Indonesia

The contribution of micro-entrepreneurship to development has featured prominently in recent economic and policy debates. Using panel data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey over a long period (1993–2007) marked by an important economic crisis in 1997, this paper investigates the impact of financial, human and social capital on households’ participation in micro-entrepreneurship, while accounting for corruption as well as institutional and infrastructure quality. Larger urban households that have greater financial and social capital, and/or whose members have an elementary or secondary education, are more likely to participate. Corruption at the local parliament and local government levels reduces the number of participants, while higher-quality formal institutions and infrastructure boost entrepreneurship. The period is marked by a rise in participation in 2000, but communities that experienced a loss in well-being due to the crisis were less likely to participate in micro-entrepreneurship.     

Exploring social capital of emerging farmers from Eksteenskuil,South Africa

The objective of this paper was to quantify the levels of social capital of emerging raisin producers from Eksteenskuil, and to explore the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers and their social capital levels. The respondents prove to have high levels of social capital. Interestingly, they tend to trust and get along with each other more than they actively participate in organised group activities in the community. Their social capital thus can be said to be more cognitive than structural. Higher levels of social capital were also found to be associated with higher age, experience and education levels of the respondents. Ultimately it was concluded that the complexity of social capital makes it difficult to implement initiatives that will contribute to developing the social capital levels of these farmers. Efforts to stimulate collective action and farmer-to-farmer skills transfer should take cognisance of the role of social dynamics in the behaviour of emerging farmers.     

The Effect of Social Capital on Fertiliser Adoption: Evidence from Rural Tanzania

Do the characteristics of local social structures affect fertiliseradoption among rural households? This paper extends the modelof technology adoption of Feder and Slade (1984) to incorporatesocial capital, and then tests the model with household datafrom two agro-ecological zones in rural Tanzania. Probit estimatesof the model show that the probability of adoption of improvedfertiliser in 1994–5 in the Central Plateau region isincreasing in land under cultivation, cumulative adoption patterns,ethnically based social affiliations, the adoption of improvedseeds, the availability of credit and extension services andthe average years of residence in the village. In the Plainsregion, this probability is increasing in land under cultivation,ethnically based social affiliations and consultative norms.Overall, these results, which are robust after testing for thelikely reverse causality of land under cultivation, supportthe finding that ethnically based and participatory social affiliationsact as forms of social capital in the adoption decision.     

Are poor able to access the informal credit market? Evidence from rural households in China

The poor are often excluded from formal credit markets, but few empirical studies in literature have investigated whether the poor are constrained in the informal credit market. This paper uses recent micro data of rural China to answer this question. An instrumental variable model is estimated to account for potential endogeneity issues. Results show that poorer households have lower probability of entering the informal credit market. Further examination shows that the poor are limited by social network and that they have no financial means to invest in their social capital to expand their social network. Our findings shed light on potential solutions of reducing poverty in rural areas.     

基础设施资本回报率的估算及影响因素研究

文章在合理界定并调整基础设施统计口径基础上，运用永续盘存法非传统途径和生产函数法谨慎测算了基础设施的全套资本存量和资本回报率，并构造1993-2016年省级面板数据，从三个方面分解并检验了基础设施资本回报率的影响因素。研究发现：（1）全国生产性基础设施资本存量急剧攀升，年均增速达到12.6%。其中，经济基础设施存量持续高于社会基础设施。（2）基础设施资本回报率呈现倒"U"型变动趋势，且在不同基础设施类型和区域间保持稳健。其中，社会基础设施的资本回报率整体高于经济基础设施，东部地区的基础设施资本回报率高于中部地区，西部地区则长期处于低位运行。（3）基于基础设施资本产出比不断上升是其资本回报率持续下降的主因这一判断，进一步证实基础设施投资率及其资本深化程度，以及人力资本积累、城镇化等因素整体上均显著影响基础设施资本回报率。     

Cost-benefit analysis of energy efficiency in urban low-cost housing

This cost-benefit analysis study considered energy-efficiency measures in low-cost housing, primarily standard 30 m 2 Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses. The three packages of interventions that improve the thermal performance of the houses (ceilings, roof and wall insulation, windows and partitions) were found to be economically attractive both from a national and a household perspective. The net benefits from the whole package for a standard RDP home is about 10 per cent of the value of the housing subsidy provided by the government. The same interventions applied to informal housing appear more costly because the lifespan of shacks is taken to be five years. Row houses are particularly attractive, although their social acceptability requires further study. Compact fluorescent lamps and solar water heating are also attractive because of the energy savings they deliver. Apart from saving money, all these measures improve the quality of life of households by increasing comfort and decreasing indoor air pollution. Although the measures have a net social benefit, it does not mean that poor people can afford them. Energy-efficiency measures tend to have high capital costs, while the benefits are spread over many years. With their high discount rates, consumers are often not able to wait for future savings, nor do they have access to capital for investment. Based on our analysis, however, a capital subsidy of between R1 000 and R2 000 (not the full capital cost) is all that would be required to make these measures attractive to poor households across a range of regions and income groups. The no-cost measures of northern orientations: climatically correct window size and placement, as well as the appropriate wall and roof colour have a thermal running cost and environmental impact.     

Rebalancing in China: A taxation approach

The rebalancing of the Chinese economy is analyzed through a heterogeneous taxation of various types of firms. Based on a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model, the paper applies tax reforms to raise consumption, reduce some firms' overinvestment (overcapacities) and maintain a high level of welfare.To rebalance consumption and investment, taxation may allow reallocating a part of the labor force to firms that are not overinvesting (via business taxes and social security contributions). Moreover, the correction of distortions in production factor costs (capital and labor) is necessary during certain reforms applied in the model; that is, on the one hand, higher credit costs for firms that face soft budget constraints (via financial transactions taxes) and, on the other hand, a catch-up of foreign firms' wages by domestic firms (via social security contributions).These tax reforms bring welfare benefits to households and stabilize the welfare reaction to productivity shocks. Another interesting result is that in this framework, the rebalancing of the domestic demand in China does not require the readjustment of the external financial position. Indeed, the aggregate savings rate remains high and the supply of domestic assets is reduced.Finally, another model proposes a heterogeneous taxation of consumption across home and foreign goods to enhance consumption.     

Roles of Formal Institutions and Social Capital in Innovation Activities: A Cross-Country Analysis

This paper investigates the roles of formal institutions and social capital in countries’ innovation activities. The sample consists of 62 developed and developing countries, using the ordinary least squares robust standard error estimations, instrumental variable (IV) estimators, and quantile regression. The empirical results indicate that formal institutions and social capital complement one another in influencing countries’ innovations level. In terms of the relative importance of both in promoting innovation activities, the social capital has greater role compared to formal institutions. Furthermore, the empirical result suggests that innovation level tends to be higher in countries with higher social capital. We also use the quantile regression to estimate whether the relationship among formal institutions, social capital, and innovation differs at different points in the conditional distribution of innovation. The results demonstrate that formal institutions yield a significant positive impact only after exceeding in 50th quantile, whereas social capital do so at lower 10th quantile. Therefore, in addition to a policy focus on improving the formal institutions, countries with a low level of innovation should enrich social capital in their promotion of innovation activity.     

Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor: evidence from Pakistan

Using detailed data from rural Pakistan, this paper investigateswhether human capital, learning-by-doing, gender, and familystatus affect the division of labor within households. Resultssuggest the presence of returns to individual specializationin all farm, non-farm, and home based activities. The intrahouseholddivision of labor is influenced by comparative advantage basedon human capital and by long-lasting returns to learning-by-doing,but we also find evidence of a separate effect of gender andfamily status. Households seem to operate as hierarchies withsexually segregated spheres of activity. The head of householdand his or her spouse provide most of the labor within theirrespective spheres of influence; other members work less. Whenpresent in the household, daughters-in-law work systematicallyharder than daughters of comparable age, height, and education.Other findings of interest are that there are increasing returnsto scale in most household chores, that larger households workmore off farm, and that better educated individuals enjoy moreleisure.     

Access to agricultural extension,credit and markets among small‐scale farmers in southern Zambia

This article used survey data to determine the extent to which small‐scale farm households in the Choma district of Zambia's southern province have access to agricultural extension services, credit and markets. The findings show that the majority of the sample households had access to extension and credit services. They also showed that the resource base or wealth of the households — as manifested by farm size, livestock ownership and human capital or management capacity (the household head's training in agriculture) — is a significant factor when accounting for differential access to extension and credit. On the other hand, study findings suggest that farm households are facing problems with marketing their produce under the liberalised agricultural marketing system. Based on these findings, the article discusses recommendations for providing solutions to some of the problems affecting small‐scale farmers in accessing production services.     

国内外社会资本与旅游研究文献综述

社会资本包含集体社会资本和个体社会资本。通过对Elsevier，Springer link和CNKI等平台上的文献进行梳理发现：在旅游领域，社会资本理论研究主要集中于集体和个体社会资本对旅游发展影响以及旅游对目的地社会资本影响等方面，研究呈现出内容上集中于社会资本对旅游的影响，方法上以案例分析为主的特点，当前仍存在不足，并提出今后研究的趋势，为以旅游创新助力乡村振兴，关注特色小镇发展模式，促进文化旅游可持续等，更好地运用社会资本理论来解释和解决旅游活动中的现象和问题，促进旅游业可持续发展。     

Consumption,financial wealth and labor income in Korea

By examining the relationship between consumption, financial wealth and labor income in Korea, this paper presents three key findings. First, we find evidence that Korean households hold a larger proportion of their wealth in human capital instead of financial wealth, compared to households in other countries. Potentially, this finding appears consistent with Koreans’ enthusiasm for human development through education despite low government funding. Another important finding is that only financial wealth fluctuations contain a large portion of temporary components. Hence, financial wealth is mainly responsible for adjustments to restore the long-run relationship between consumption, financial wealth and labor income during the examined period. Third, and perhaps most interestingly, this paper finds that before the 1997 Asian financial crisis, households in Korea had difficulty smoothing their consumption over time. This finding may be at least partly attributable to households’ limited access to bank loans and their low level of financial wealth accumulation prior to the crisis. In contrast, we find little evidence that households’ consumption behavior has changed during the recent global financial crisis.     

Unemployment and Food Insecurity in Urban Ethiopia

Although unemployment is often associated with food insecurity, the paths through which it leads to food insecurity is less explored. This study investigates the effects of unemployment on food insecurity based on data collected from 410 randomly selected households in Addis Ababa and the Munessa district of Arsi Zone. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the data. The results show that 55.9 percent of the respondents were unemployed and only 12.4 percent of the households were food secure. The prevalence of food insecurity was higher among households headed by unemployed persons. Education and economic factors are the mechanisms through which unemployment leads to food insecurity. Lack of education reduces the chance of employment and the quality of jobs engaged in whilst the economic path to food insecurity is partly related to the inability of poor households to cope with soaring food prices and seasonal unemployment. Thus, increasing employment opportunities through pro‐poor measures is a means to enhance human capital development that helps the people take advantage of the labour market and improve the economic status of households, ultimately leading to ensuring food security.     

Poverty,Vulnerability and Social Protection in a Period of Crisis: The Case of Indonesia

Before the financial crisis of mid-1997, estimates of consumption poverty in Indonesia were based on rather modest poverty line thresholds when seen in relation to estimates of capability poverty. The reasons behind this discrepancy are identified and alternative estimates of consumption poverty for the pre-crisis period proposed. During the crisis, the behavior of consumption poverty can be described as transient in nature and is relevant in understanding the notion of vulnerability, that is, the risk that individuals and households can experience temporary episodes of poverty. Vulnerability could have worsened, however, in the absence of government intervention, entailing macroeconomic stabilization measures and social protection initiatives. Based on this experience, a fiscally sustainable social safety net, that is able to reinforce household coping mechanisms and social capital, is recommended as part of the country's medium-term strategy to combat poverty.     

Moving from the Stock of Social Capital to the Flow of Benefits: The Role of Agency

Comparing results for 60 villages in Rajasthan, India, it is seen that having a high level of social capital does not always help to achieve high development performance. Stocks of social capital need to be drawn upon actively, and capable agency is necessary in addition to high social capital. Locally relevant scales of development performance and social capital are devised for making this comparison. Variables corresponding to other bodies of explanation, including extent of commercialization, relative stratification, and relative need are also examined, but a combination of high social capital and capable agency is found to be associated most closely with high development performance.