Foreign Investment in U. S. Agricultural Land: An Overview of the National Issue and a Case Study of Vermont

A bstract . A number of issues surround the ownership of farmland by absentee owners and foreign nationals. The response to these concerns in the United States has been the promulgation of the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) which provides for a land purchase reporting system. The present investigation seeks to describe the nature of the foreign land ownership picture in the United States, the status of existing state laws which deal with the matter and. through the example of a case study on the State of Vermont , attempts to describe impacts and implications of such ownerships.     

On the “Lock-In” Effects of Capital Gains Taxation

The most important drawback of a tax on realized capital gains is its “lock-in” effect. This paper uses a simple land development model to examine the distortion that the lock-in effect generates. A surprising result is that the lock-in effect does not arise if the basis for the capital gains tax (usually the price at which the current owner acquired the land) is sufficiently high. Rather than delaying the sale, the owner sells the land as soon as possible even if the land will be developed much later. In this case, the capital gains tax creates no “real” distortion because it does not affect the development time. In particular, if the basis is the price formed under perfect foresight, the lock-in effect never arises.     

农村集体土地所有权确权登记发证项目实施方案

全面开展农村集体土地所有权确权登记发证工作,不仅是维护农民权益和促进农村社会和谐稳定的现实需要,也是落实严格耕地保护制度和节约用地制度以及提高土地管理和利用水平的客观需要,更是进一步夯实农业农村发展基础和促进城乡统筹发展的迫切需要。     

农地“三权分置”改革对农业内生发展的影响机制及实证检验

农地"三权分置"改革通过影响农业资本、技术、劳动力等生产投入要素进而影响农业内生发展。本文利用调研数据对其实证检验的结果表明,代表农地"三权分置"改革的土地确权和土地转入显著提高了农户的农业投资及贷款意愿,提升了其农业科技使用意愿,并增强了其农业人力资本提升意愿;而代表"三权分置"改革的土地转出对三者的影响均为负。由此表明,农地"三权分置"改革对农业资本、技术和劳动力的内生增长有显著促进作用,进而推动农业内生发展。建议深化"三权分置"改革,推进确权成果应用,完善土地流转机制,借助大数据建立网络化土地流转平台,以土地为杠杆撬动农业其他生产要素投入。     

产权演化视角下的土地征收补偿合理化——基于地方政府与征地农户之间的关系

研究目的:运用演化博弈方法,基于现有制度条件、有限理性和主体学习的博弈框架,论证征收补偿标准逐步合理化产生的过程和机理,理清地方政府与征地农户之间的动态博弈关系。研究方法:演化博弈方法和图示分析法。研究结果:1.随着经济社会的发展,土地的潜在价值被逐渐挖掘,形成新的价值体系。原产权主体——征地农户与地方政府会不断强化对其的控制和拥有,逐步形成以新价值体系保护为目标的产权结构和形态;2.土地新价值体系发现及形成后,地方政府采用行政征收权时会与征地农户产生激烈对抗,各主体依据各自利益诉求逐渐形成了目前征地补偿标准变化的新趋势。研究结论:随着经济社会的发展、农户维护自身利益的意识和政府维稳压力的增加,地方政府较之前更加愿意分享土地的潜在价值,形成土地征收补偿标准逐渐合理化的趋势。     

黑龙江省高标准基本农田建设项目绩效评价研究——基于耕地质量等级视角

文章以海伦市2个高标准基本农田补建项目为例,运用DELP法和AHP法构建了基于耕地质量视角的高标准基本农田建设绩效评价指标体系和评价模型,探讨了项目区在项目实施前后的耕地质量变化情况,结果表明2个项目区的耕地质量都不同程度的提高,与实际情况高度吻合,为高标准基本农田建设项目绩效评价提供新的科学方法。     

Foreign ownership,firm performance,and the geography of civic capital

It is well established in the literature that foreign affiliates are subject to a series of governance and assimilation costs that may deteriorate their performance. This is particularly relevant for firms which have been recently acquired by foreign investors. We employ the variation in civic capital across Italian provinces as an exogenous determinant of these governance costs. We claim that the effect of foreign ownership on productivity is less favorable in areas where civic capital is low. As the level of local civic capital increases, the scope for opportunistic behavior is reduced, which makes the governance of foreign affiliates easier and improves their performance. We take this prediction to the data and find confirmation of our conceptual framework. Our analysis uncovers the importance of the geographic heterogeneity of informal norms and institutions in analyzing the nexus between foreign ownership and performance.     

陕西省土地储备中政府、农民权益得失评价

随着1996年上海等地开始借鉴国外经验,摸索土地储备制度的同时,陕西省各地政府也于2002年前后纷纷建立了专门的土地储备机构并出台了相应的土地储备制度。土地储备制度是政府调控土地和集约化用地的主要手段,制度在实施过程中给相关权益主体造成了一定的利益得失。结合陕西省政府及农民等土地储备权益主体在土地储备过程中公信力和征地补偿权益得失的分析,提出创新土地融资方式和完善土地储备制度,促使政府和农民的权益达到损失最小化和收益最大化。     

INTERACTION OF LAND POLICY AND LAND-BASED TAX POLICY: THE VERMONT LAND GAINS TAX

In 1973, the State of Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the United States to enact a land gains tax. The tax had two purposes: raising revenue and deterrring land speculation and subdivision, which were changing the rural, village character of the state's landscape. The land gains tax derived from many of the same forces as Act 250, Vermont's 1970 land use planning and environmental control legislation. Both measures had many positive effects during the 1970s and 1980s, but, following continued growth, land speculation and subdivision, and loss of farmland in the state in the mid-1980s, both the land gains tax and land use planning and regulation were readdressed by the legislature in 1987 and 1988.     

A Real‐Assets Model of Economic Crises: Will China Crash in 2015?

Loosely derived from Henry George's theory that land speculation creates boom‐bust cycles, a real‐assets model of economic crises is developed. In this model, land prices play a central role, and three hypothesized mechanisms are proposed by which swings of land prices affect the entire economy: construction on marginal sites, partial displacement of circulating capital by fixed capital investment, and the over‐leveraging of bank assets. The crisis of 2008 is analyzed in these terms along with other examples of sudden economic contractions in U.S. history, recent European experience, and global examples over the past 20 years. Conditions in China in 2014 are examined and shown to indicate a likely recession in that country in 2015 because its banks are over‐leveraged with large‐scale, under‐performing real estate loans. Finally, alternative methods of preventing similar crises in the future are explored.     

Property Tax and Housing Returns

This paper evaluates the effects of property tax on housing. While land tax and capital gains tax are widely used for curbing hoarding of land and speculation, its effectiveness is inconclusive. The imposition of a capital gains tax will impair the liquidity of property transaction, lower the rate of return on property investment, and reduce revenue from land sales which represents an important tax resource for the communities. This paper shows that a capital gains tax is capitalized into housing prices. Individuals tend to postpone the purchase of houses because of transaction taxes. Using an impulse response function, we show that a transaction tax has a dynamic negative impact on housing returns. While this paper focuses on Hong kong, for the purpose of comparison Singapore and Taiwan are also discussed.     

A life-cycle model of repeat migration

"This paper develops a theoretical model which analyzes the impact of the spatial distribution of a family's stock of human capital on its migration decision. This stock of human capital is composed of location-specific and non-specific human capital. The distribution of location-specific capital is a function of the residential and employment history of the family, while non-specific capital is distributed evenly over space. An empirical specification of the model is derived and estimated with a [U.S.] data set consisting of a number of cases from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics."     

我国农村集体土地所有权的演变

农村集体土地所有权是农民土地财产权利的重要组成部分。农村集体土地所有权的演变,经过了从农民私有权向集体所有权发展两个阶段。农村集体土地所有权的演变与发展,客观反映了我国国家的政治稳定与经济发展之间的关系,科学认识集体土地所有权演变历史,对完善农村土地权利体系,推进我国土地制度改革,具有积极意义。     

The impacts of family involvement on R&D investment intensity in firms: Evidence from China

Drawing on the perspective of socioemotional wealth, this paper explores the types of family involvement in family firms and their impacts on R&D investment intensity. Using data from the forecasts issued by A-share family firms listed on Chinese stock markets between 2008 and 2019, the study finds that the separation of ownership and control is negatively associated with R&D investment intensity in non-high-tech firms, whereas potential gains of socioemotional wealth from R&D activities by high-tech firms produce a positive influence that offsets the negative impact of the separation of ownership and control on R&D investments. It reveals the importance of gains of socioemotional wealth. In contrast to the separation of ownership and control, family involvement in management is negatively associated with firms’ R&D investment intensity in both high-tech firms and non-high-tech firms. Our results capture the diversity of family members’ identity recognition, which leads to family members’ different evaluations of the potential gains and losses of socioemotional wealth. Overall, the distinction between high-tech family firms and other family firms is shown to be significant, as is the distinction between the impacts of different types of family involvement.

     

农地入股公司的法律规制

农地入股公司的难点主要在国家政策与现行法律的限制,不能破坏农地由乡或村集体所有与本村村民对土地享有的优先承包权与优先受让权,是设计农地入股制度的政策底线。因此,需要从农地入股的程序、农地股的设计、入股后的风险防范及失地农民保障等方面进行完善。只有坚持国家政策底线,尊重农民入股的权益,建立起完善的农地入股法律制度,才能确保农村土地入股有法可依、有章可循。     

Disclosure, Corporate Governance and Foreign Share Ownership on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

We investigate the association of foreign share ownership with firm‐level disclosure and corporate governance structures in Zimbabwe, a developing country in Southern Africa. Our motivation for the study derives from the literature, which suggests that foreign investors: (1) generally have a preference for companies in which they are well informed and where their investments are more likely to be protected, and (2) avoid companies in developing countries because of weak corporate governance structures and low disclosure. Using data drawn from companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, we examine the effect of disclosure and corporate governance on foreign share ownership. We find that disclosure, proportion of non‐executive directors, institutional share ownership and audit committee independence are all positively and significantly associated with foreign share ownership. Our results also demonstrate that market capitalization, return on equity and liquidity ratios are significantly associated with foreign share ownership. These results are consistent with the notion that foreign investors have a preference for companies with effective corporate governance structures, companies with less information asymmetry, as well as companies with healthy cash positions. The results have implications for policy‐makers in developing countries in their endeavour to improve liquidity on stock markets through the participation of foreign investors. The results are also useful to managers in developing countries who are keen to increase the market value of their company, thereby reducing their cost of capital.     

Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures

While prior work has investigated the impact of (a) ownership structure and (b) board gender diversity separately on corporate environmental performance, researchers have not studied the potentially important relationship between ownership control and female board diversity in influencing corporate environmental performance jointly. We do so in the context of majority ownership in family‐controlled and dual‐class firms whose motives and influence are theoretically different from that of the firm's minority shareholders. Drawing on resource dependency, socioemotional wealth theory, and secondary agency theory, we hypothesize that majority family owners and dual‐class owners likely choose women directors to help advance their personal preferences for environmental corporate social responsibility. Our empirical tests utilizing 2,755 U.S. firm years over the 2010–2015 show that, as hypothesized, these two majority ownership types interact with board gender diversity to positively influence corporate environmental performance.     

Managerial Perceptions of the Net Benefits of Foreign Listing: Canadian Evidence

This study provides some insights into managerial perceptions of the costs, benefits, and net benefits of foreign listing through a survey of Canadian firms that have listed their securities on the foreign exchanges in the U.S. and U.K. Access to foreign capital markets and increased stock marketability are perceived to be the major benefits. The SEC reporting and compliance requirements are cited as the major costs of foreign listings. Overall, benefits are perceived to outweigh costs although not significandy. Managerial perceptions of positive net benefits are strongly linked to the levels of trading volume in their firm's stock on foreign exchanges. This study is useful for managers contemplating foreign listings. Our findings indicate that the listing decision requires careful scrutiny in terms of potential costs and benefits which may depend on many firm specific factors. Firms conducting most of their business abroad and issuing a greater percentage of equity abroad are likely to have a greater appeal for foreign investors irrespective of their size and industry. While multiple listings on foreign exchanges may not imply higher foreign trading volumes, fewer domestic exchange listings are associated with higher foreign trading volumes.     

河南农地非农化过程中和谐土地利益机制构建研究

当前,由于农村土地的和谐土地利益机制没有建立健全,直接或间接影响了农民的合法地权和各级政府推动工业化、城镇化和农业现代化进程的积极性。本文拟从完善土地征收和征用法规、规范政府农地征收和征用权、培育农地使用权流转市场、完善农地补偿制度、健全农地征收和征用程序、构建失地农民的社会保障制度等方面对构建和谐土地利益机制进行研究,以期在农地非农化进程中为保障广大农民的合法地权及其相关利益提供理论支持。     

广西农村人力资本投资与农民收入的经济学浅析

知识经济时代,人力资本成为科技进步和社会经济发展的重要资源和保证,它是影响人们收入的决定性因素。目前,广西的经济建设虽然取得了巨大成就,但是在农村的人力资本投资严重滞后,导致农民收入增长缓慢。文章基于经济学视角,在前人研究的基础上,对广西农村人力资本投资与农民收入进行实证分析,得出结论：农村劳动力受教育程度与农民人均纯收入之间存在相关关系,而人力资本存量不足是导致农民收入低下的重要因素。最后,针对目前广西农村人力资本投资存在的问题提出合理的政策建议。