Differentiation and Synergies in Rural Tourism: Estimation and Simulation of the Israeli Market

This article applies a discrete-choice equilibrium model with product differentiation to study the rural tourism industry in Israel and to jointly estimate the effect of lodging and farm characteristics on consumer preferences and firms' costs. The model accounts for heterogeneity in tastes and technologies and allows for unobservable product characteristics. We find evidence for technological synergy in the joint production of agricultural goods and rural tourism services, but none in the demand. The differentiation in the industry is the major contributor to the price-cost margin, which averages 62%. An additional minor cause is government regulations, which restrict supply. Simulation results demonstrate the growth potential of the industry and show that the government can play an important role in catalyzing growth via investment subsidization, deregulation of supply and information distribution.     

Rural in-migration and agricultural development: Evidence from Zambia

While a considerable body of literature has developed in recent years around the drivers and consequences of rural out-migration in sub-Saharan Africa, relatively little work has been done to understand the impacts of migration into rural areas. We use nationally representative household survey data from Zambia to explore the relationship between rural in-migration and agricultural productivity outcomes in receiving communities. We document high levels of rural in-migration throughout Zambia—12% of rural household heads having moved from elsewhere within the previous 10 years—with two-thirds of rural in-migrants originating from other rural areas. Migrants are, on average, better endowed with capital resources than their nonmigrant neighbors and are more engaged with input and output markets. After controlling for other factors, we find that higher rates of rural in-migration are associated with greater agricultural productivity outcomes in receiving communities. These positive associations are particularly pronounced in more remote rural areas, and where in-migration originates from other rural areas. Taken together, our results suggest that rural in-migrants play an important role in the rural transformation processes underway in Zambia.     

Microfinance and Household Poverty Reduction: Empirical Evidence from Rural Pakistan

This study examines whether household access to microfinance reduces poverty in Pakistan and, if so, how and to what extent. It draws on primary empirical data gathered by interviewing 1132 households, including both borrower and non-borrower households, in 2008–2009. Sample selection biases have been partially controlled for by using propensity score matching. The study reveals that microfinance programmes had a positive impact on the participating households. Poverty-reducing effects were observed on a number of indicators, including expenditure on healthcare, clothing and household income, and on certain dwelling characteristics, such as water supply and the quality of roofing and walls.     

乡村旅游开发:我国城市反哺农村的理想途径

以城市和乡村这两种不同类型的人类集居地域对比为基础,从乡村旅游的本质和特性着手,探讨其在我国城市反哺农村中的产业优势与产业适宜性。认为乡村旅游通过吸引城市居民直接到农村地区异地消费而巧妙地实现城乡之间财富的隐形调拨,是平衡地区经济的天然杠杆;乡村旅游主要以乡村环境和物产以及遍在性的山水和风土民情为物质基础,从而使得绝大多数农村地区都具备发展条件,堪称为农村地区"量身订造"的新型产业;乡村旅游还因就地取材和游客主动上门而能获得既靠近原料地、又靠近消费市场的产业布局效应;乡村旅游业发展条件的门槛较低,是落后的农村地区可进入性较好的产业。     

Chinese Peasant Choices: Migration,Rural Industry or Farming

A nationally representative rural labour force survey of China is analysed to explore the allocation of labour among farming, local non-farming and temporary migration activities. Various tests of labour market segmentation are conducted. The estimated returns to labour off the farm greatly exceed those on the farm. The personal and household determinants of activities, and of days worked in them, are examined for demand or supply constraints on employment; some results are consistent with the former. The relationship between days worked off and on the farm suggests that the opportunity cost to households of non-farm work is very low. The evidence is consistent with there being rationing of non-farm employment. However, tastes, imperfect information, imperfect capital markets, risk-aversion and transaction costs are also relevant. The overcoming of the obstacles to diversification away from farming is important for rural development in China.     

Neighbourhood Effects in Pesticide Use: Evidence from the Rural Philippines

This study investigates how pesticide use by neighbouring farmers affects a given farmer's pesticide use. Although it is common knowledge that pesticide use has spatial externalities, few empirical economic studies explicitly analyse this issue. Applying a spatial panel econometric model to plot‐level panel data for Bohol, Philippines, this study shows that pesticide use, especially for herbicides, is spatially correlated, although there is no statistically significant spatial correlation in unobserved shocks. This implies that farmers apply pesticides by referring to the behaviour of neighbouring farmers rather than responding directly to the intensity of their own infestation.     

Collateral,Guaranties and Rural Credit in Developing Countries: Evidence from Asia

The paper reviews the theory of the impact of loan collateral, and in particular land collateral, in institutional and non-institutional rural credit markets. Evidence from three Asian developing countries is presented, showing extensive use of land collateral among institutional lenders in countries where such collateral is legal. The use of land collateral is more common than other forms of security, except in places where legal inhibitions on mortgaging agricultural land exist. Non-institutional lenders are less inclined to use land collateral. However, lenders who do not have links to borrowers in matters other than finance are more likely to use loan securities. Estimates of instutional credit supply and demand in rural Thailand confirm that the pledging of land collateral affects the supply of credit more than group guaranty. It is also shown that larger farmers are more likely to utilize land collateral. The conclusion is that land collateral is preferred by instutional lenders as it reduces creditworthiness assessment costs. Attempts to ban or limit collateral use by decree are motivated by equity considerations, but they will cause loss of efficiency. Simplification of ownership verification and other policies reducing the transaction cost of collateral pledging will mitigate the negative equity implications of collateral.     

A Note on Targeting by Predatory Leaders: Evidence from Rural Liberia

We consider the impact of rice-thieving chiefs on investments by smallholder farmers in Liberia. In an earlier study, we found that chiefs who steal reduce aggregate investment levels by villagers. In this paper, we refine this result, and establish that predatory leadership only matters for households with a different ethnic identity from the chief. Co-ethnics of the chief are much less responsive to a context of predation, suggesting that thieving leaders target individuals along ethnic lines.     

发展乡村旅游:解决农村民生问题的一种路径选择

解决民生问题是当前贯彻落实科学发展观、构建社会主义和谐社会面临的重大课题,更是党和国家政治生活的主题。农村的民生问题包括了农村就业创业、农村社会保障等诸多方面。发展乡村旅游,是解决农村民生问题的一种路径选择。     

An Inquiry into the Financial Literacy and Cognitive Ability of Farmers: Evidence from Rural India

Poor understanding of financial products and an inability to process financial information prevent millions of rural households in the developing world from making informed financial decisions. This article assesses the financial literacy and cognitive ability of farmers using data from a unique field experiment in the Indian state of Gujarat. Using ordered response models, the effect of farmers' education on cognitive ability and financial literacy is estimated on the one hand, and the relationship between cognitive ability and financial literacy is analysed on the other. Farmers' education and financial experience are shown to be significantly correlated with achievements in customized tests for ability in mathematics and probability, which are taken as the two components of cognitive ability. Cognitive ability, in turn, predicts financial aptitude and debt literacy, the two components of financial literacy. By focusing on farmers in a developing country, the findings contribute to an improved understanding of financial literacy in such settings and can inform the design of inclusive financial systems that are sensitive to the cognitive and informational limitations of rural households.     

Adoption and Impacts of Sustainable Agricultural Practices on Maize Yields and Incomes: Evidence from Rural Zambia

This paper uses a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model and data from a sample of over 800 households and 3,000 plots to assess the determinants and impacts of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on maize yields and household incomes in rural Zambia. Results show that adoption decisions are driven by household and plot level characteristics and that the adoption of a combination of SAPs raises both maize yields and incomes of smallholder farmers. Adoption of improved maize alone has greater impacts on maize yields, but given the high cost of inorganic fertiliser that limits the profitability of adoption of improved maize, greater household incomes are associated rather with a package involving SAPs such as maize–legume rotation and residue retention.     

Cost Structure and Vertical Integration between Farming and Processing

In several food‐producing sectors, we observe vertical integration between the farming and processing stages. The salmon industry, which has motivated this paper, has seen a rise in large vertically integrated companies over the last decade, with direct ownership of production activities including hatcheries, fish processing and exporting. Both the farming and processing stages have become more capital intensive, which has led to a steeper U‐shaped average cost (AC) curve. In this paper we present a theoretical link between this technological shift and vertical integration: in a repeated game model of relational contracting, we show that when the AC curve is sufficiently steep, then processors and farmers are more likely to vertically integrate. The reason is that steep AC curves make it costly to deviate from the optimal production scale, which in turn makes processors more vulnerable to hold‐up and opportunistic behaviours from its suppliers.     

The Nexus between Disability,Education, and Employment: Evidence from Nepal

The links between disability, education, and employment remain unclear in developing countries due to the lack of credible data. This paper identifies and compares the effect of education on employability, employment status (full-time or part-time), job type (white collar or blue collar), and job satisfaction among persons with disabilities using a unique data-set of over 400 respondents with hearing, physical, and visual impairments in Nepal. The analysis also utilizes nationally representative survey data from the Nepal Living Standard Survey 2010/2011 (NLSS III) for a robustness test. Results show a positive correlation between years of schooling and the likelihood of obtaining a full-time and white-collar job. Regarding the type of impairment, those with physical impairments are less likely to be employed when individual characteristics are controlled, but report higher levels of job satisfaction when they are employed. Results thus suggest the need to invest further in education for persons with disabilities, in order to increase their participation within the labor market.     

How Productive Is Infrastructure? A New Approach and Evidence from Rural India

There have been competing arguments about the effect of public infrastructure on productivity. Level-based and debate-based regressions often lead to different estimates. To help reconcile this difference, this article applies the GMM method to first test for causality to check for length of lagged relationships and the existence of reverse causality before specifying a final model and deciding the estimation procedure. This approach is illustrated using a panel data set for India. The results show that infrastructure development in India is productive, providing supporting evidence to reverse the trend of declining investment in rural infrastructure.     

农村宅基地季节性闲置与完全闲置的比较——基于全国百县调查

研究目的：识别我国宅基地闲置的类型特征，分析不同类型的形成原因，为闲置宅基地科学管理、分类整治提供理论参考。研究方法：基于一项全国百县调查数据，对宅基地季节性和完全闲置进行比较研究，利用多元线性回归模型考察二者的影响因素。研究结果：季节性闲置比完全闲置更为常见，平均程度更深，村际差异也更大。中部地区农村宅基地平均闲置率最高且以季节性闲置为主，区位偏远农村季节性闲置更为普遍。人口迁移对宅基地闲置的解释力最强，家庭化迁移直接导致宅基地闲置；地理条件差异是形塑宅基地闲置地域分异的基础；确权颁证发挥产权固化的作用，对两种闲置均有促进作用；基础设施配套完善能有效抑制完全闲置，非农就业则明显提高季节性闲置。研究结论：季节性闲置宅基地仍发挥居住功能，不应视为资源浪费；完全闲置才是宅基地资源浪费的典型，在具体整治时应予以重点关注。     

农村集体经济壮大的障碍、成因与建议——以陕西省为例

壮大农村集体经济是实现乡村振兴的战略任务,是实现"农业、农村、农民"走向"强、美、富"的必由之路,是夯实党在农村执政地位和执政基础的重要基石,更是全面建成小康社会的重要保证.近年来,虽然发展农村集体经济已取得阶段性成就,但总体而言与中央要求相比仍存在差距.为此,本研究通过对陕西省农村集体经济组织发展现状进行调查,从主导...     

Social Capital,Income Diversification and Climate Change Adaptation: Panel Data Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

The choice between specialisation and diversification of income is driven by multiple, interacting factors, such as economies of scale and scope, risk considerations, context, and household characteristics. Using panel data from Ethiopia, we investigate the role of social capital and the covariate risk of climate change and their interaction. We find that households with greater social capital tend to be more specialised, implying that diversification and informal insurance are substitutes in the mitigation of risk. We also find that this effect is significantly weaker in regions more prone to climate change, which is consistent with the average farmer being aware that informal insurance is not an effective protection against risks that affect the entire social network. We use instrumental variable random effects estimation to account for the plausible endogeneity of social capital and we also establish that our results do not depend on the poorest and most constrained individuals in our sample.     

土地托管、劳动力分化对农户家庭收入的影响研究——基于6省1 933户农户的实证

研究目的：探讨土地托管服务对农户家庭收入的影响机理，从土地托管视角考察三大粮食区域农户的土地、劳动力资源配置对家庭整体经济福利的影响。研究方法：最小二乘法、工具变量法、分位数回归和中介效应模型。研究结果：（1）土地托管服务对农户家庭收入有显著正向影响，该收入分配效应表现出个体异质性和区域差异性；（2）劳动力分化能促进土地托管服务的发展和农户家庭经济福利的提升，是土地托管服务促进农户家庭增收的有效路径。研究结论：（1）完善土地托管服务市场和劳动力就业市场以提升农户的家庭经济福利；（2）加强政策帮扶，保障资源禀赋较弱农户的土地托管服务需求；（3）因地制宜，加强各粮食生产区域之间土地托管服务的经验交流。     

乡村旅游及其发展对策的探讨

乡村旅游作为一种新型旅游形式,它是以农业和乡村为资源而开发的一种新兴生态旅游产品,是农业生产和旅游活动相结合的产物。本文通过阐述发展乡村旅游的重要意义及其在国内外的发展状况,分析了我国乡村旅游发展中存在的主要问题,认为统筹规划,强化特色,打造品牌,规范管理是解决这些问题的基本对策。     

Impact of Agriculture on Rural Tourism: A Hedonic Pricing Approach

The increased awareness of farmers' role in the maintenance of rural landscapes may contribute to a reassessment of the place of agriculture in society. In this paper, we look at how this role, in relation to landscape, is valued by rural tourists or, in other words, whether it is a response to a societal demand, as is argued by defenders of multifunctional agriculture. The results from a hedonic pricing analysis indicate that landscape features associated with agricultural activities (such as meadows and grazing cattle) positively influence the demand for rural tourism and have a positive impact on the price tourists are willing to pay for rural accommodation. This is also illustrated by the adverse impact of perceived negative externalities from agricultural production (such as intensive maize cultivation) on this price.