The Economics of Transmigrant Farming

The basic agronomy of government-sponsored transmigration areas in Indonesia's Outer Islands has often not been well understood. The soils are commonly fragile podzolie soils which quickly break down once the forest is removed leaving low levels of nutrients. Farmer experience in these areas suggests that the requirements of high fertihser and high labour inputs and the lack of adequate transportation and marketing infrastructure make a continuous food cropping strategy difficult to adopt. From the standpoint of soils management, input requirements and operator time costs per hectare, perennial crops, peanuts and livestock offer the best returns.     

Transaction costs and crop marketing in the communal areas of Impendle and Swayimana,KwaZulu-Natal

High transaction costs are detrimental to the efficient operation or existence of markets for inputs and outputs. The cost of information and the costs associated with the search for trade partners, the distance to formal markets and contract enforcement are likely to influence the marketing of food crops. This study hypothesises that the level of income generated from food-crop sales by small-scale farmers in the Impendle and Swayimana districts of KwaZuluNatal is influenced by transaction costs and certain household and farm characteristics. Regression analysis shows that the depth of marketing methods is significantly influenced by transaction cost proxies, such as cooperation with large commercial farmers and ownership of means of transport. Results from a block-recursive regression analysis show that the level of crop income generated is determined by the depth of marketing methods, the size of allocated arable land and off-farm income. Households with lower transaction costs, sizeable allocated land and off-farm income can be expected to generate higher income from food crops. Investment in public goods such as roads, telecommunications and an efficient legal system (to uphold commercial contracts), as well as farmer support services (input supply, extension, marketing information and research), would probably raise farm and non-farm income by reducing transaction costs. This would increase the effective demand for locally produced goods and services, thus contributing to rural employment and livelihoods within rural communal areas.     

Institutional Adjustment and Transaction Costs: Product and Inputs Markets in the Tanzanian Coffee System

Commodity market liberalization can improve incentives for production of export crops by reducing the total costs of transforming products through space, form and time, or by reducing the costs of arranging and completing transactions. While liberalization often leads to reduced costs in output exchange, it can remove opportunities for linked input–output transactions that sometimes lowered the costs of providing finance in state-controlled markets. Assessments of liberalization that focus on output exchange alone obscure the impact of rising transaction costs in finance. This study of liberalization in the Tanzanian coffee market documents declining costs in output marketing, rising transaction costs for financing farm activities, and differential, but generally positive, net impacts on growers.     

China's Belt and Road Initiative: Can Europe Expect Trade Gains?

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to improve cross‐border infrastructure to reduce transportation costs across a massive geographical area between China and Europe. We estimate how much trade might be created among Belt and Road (B&R) countries as a consequence of the reduction in transportation costs (both railway and maritime) and find that European Union countries, especially landlocked countries, will benefit considerably. This is also true for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and, to a lesser extent, South‐East Asia. In contrast, if China were to seek to establish a free trade area within the B&R region, EU member states would benefit less, while Asia would benefit more. Xi Jinping's current vision for the B&R, centered on improving transport infrastructure, is advantageous for Europe as far as trade creation is concerned.     

The Role of Public Infrastructure in China's Regional Inequality and Growth: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

Using a simultaneous equations approach, this paper empirically investigates the impact of two types of public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and knowledge infrastructure, on industrial geography, regional income disparities, and growth across 286 cities in China. It is found that an improvement in transportation infrastructure that reduces trade costs on goods increases growth and decreases income gap at the expense of increasing industrial agglomeration between cities. Therefore, this paper confirms the existence of a trade‐off between spatial equity (more even spatial distribution of economic activities) and spatial efficiency (higher growth rate). However, for knowledge infrastructure that reduces trade costs on ideas, it is found that it increases growth but also decreases income gap and industrial agglomeration simultaneously. Moreover, the impact of knowledge infrastructure is found to be larger in the case of high labor mobility.     

要素市场扭曲、交通基础设施改善与企业出口

文章基于Melitz（2003）企业异质性理论构建厂商出口决策模型，利用2005-2007年工业企业数据库，从要素市场扭曲角度分析交通设施影响企业出口的微观机制。研究发现，交通基础设施对企业出口倾向和出口数量具有显著的促进作用，在进入国内市场固定成本大于进入国际市场成本时，地区要素市场扭曲程度越高，交通基础设施的促进作用越明显。聚焦不同所有制的企业可以进一步发现，要素市场扭曲对非国有部门企业的抑制作用更突出，改善交通基础设施通过优化资源配置更有助于带动非国有企业的出口。研究结果还显示，交通基础设施和要素市场扭曲对企业出口的影响存在地区差异，交通基础设施和要素市场扭曲对中西部地区企业出口数量的促进作用比东部地区企业更大。这一结论不受内生性的影响。     

从软件企业外包业务分析网络关系对国际化的影响

软件行业是高科技行业国际化中的重要组成,也是网络关系理论构建中和分析“天生国际企业”时被考察最多的行业。中国软件企业在国际竞争中虽然是典型的后来者,但其在涉足国际业务时所表现出来的特征却能给我们很长远的启示。本文试图从中国小型软件企业的外包业务入手,探讨网络关系对企业国际化的影响。研究结果表明,小型软件企业在国际化的过程中,主动寻求网络关系并且能够从这种资源中获益,减少市场成本。该结果支持了两大主流理论,交易成本和资源基础理论的融合。     

An empirical analysis of factors affecting the growth of small-scale poultry enterprises in KwaZulu-Natal

Small-scale commercial poultry enterprises are often promoted and used by the government and non-governmental organisations in development projects to generate income and to improve food self-sufficiency and alleviate malnutrition, as poultry is an excellent source of protein. This study shows that the majority of small-scale commercial poultry producers in KwaZulu-Natal come from previously disadvantaged communities and have significantly lower enterprise growth rates than larger poultry producers. The results of a block-recursive regression analysis of data gathered from a sample of 123 poultry farmers in the province indicate that enterprise growth rate is constrained by poor access to credit, high transaction costs and unreliable local markets. Government policies should focus on reducing transaction costs by improving education and physical infrastructure, sponsoring training and mentoring services for small-scale commercial poultry producers, and helping these emerging entrepreneurs to formalise the business institutions needed to manage co-owned resources and to market products collectively.     

Effects of Poor Transportation on Lean Production and Industrial Clustering: Evidence from the Indian Auto Industry

Conventional wisdom suggests that poor transportation systems adversely affect industrial competitiveness by raising the unit cost of freight. This study finds that freight is neither the only nor the most significant cost that poor transportation creates for auto firms in India. Poor transportation also raises the damages incurred in transit, total inventories, and ordering and overhead costs. Worse, it creates external diseconomies by introducing inefficiencies and unreliability in the supply chain, making it difficult for assemblers to implement lean production. These external diseconomies—rather than excessive freight prices or other direct costs—may be the more debilitating impact of poor transportation infrastructure on industrial performance. In India, transportation constraints and the imperatives of lean production are driving assemblers to create auto clusters.     

Macroeconomic Consequences of Outsourcing: An Analysis of Growth, Welfare, and Product Variety

Outsourcing of non-core activities is nowadays a common business strategy. Declining transaction and transportation costs caused by the advent of Information and Communication Technology are a potentially important driving force behind this development. This paper provides a theoretical framework for analysing a firm's incentive to follow such a strategy of outsourcing and its consequences for macroeconomic variables like growth and product variety. We divide production activities into core and non-core activities. Non-core activities can be performed within the firm or can be mediated by the market. We derive conditions under which outsourcing occurs, and under which outsourcing is socially desirable. These conditions do not necessarily coincide. Outsourcing may hence be a profitable strategy for firms, while it is socially suboptimal. Crucial parameters in the model are the relative scale of core versus non-core activities, management costs, transaction costs and love for variety of consumers.     

Efficiency and equity gains in the rental market for arable land: observations from a communal area of KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Between 1993 and 1996, Thomson made a concerted effort to stimulate a rental market for arable land in the Upper Tugela Catchment region of the former KwaZulu homeland, South Africa. The number of transactions increased with associated gains in equity and efficiency. This study revisits the market and examines its performance in the year 2000. It was found that the number of rental transactions and lessees had declined, but that the area of land transacted had increased sharply. This apparent anomaly can be explained by an increase in fixed transaction costs that prevented prospective participants from entering the market, and a decrease in variable transaction costs that encouraged lessees to trade larger areas. Lessees are consolidating land from several different lessors, with gains in equity and efficiency still evident. Government extension staff could play a key role in sustaining and broadening access to rental markets for cropland in communal areas by reducing fixed transaction costs as Thomson did.     

Agricultural growth multipliers for two communal areas of KwaZulu-Natal

Expenditure data were collected from 99 households in two rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. District and wealth group expenditure analyses suggest a less-than-proportional increase in the demand for tradable farm commodities, and a more-than-proportional increase in the demand for non-tradable farm commodities following a 1 per cent increase in household expenditure. Expenditure on non-farm tradables (imported consumer durables) showed the greatest potential for demand growth, with expenditure elasticities ranging from 1,75 to 2,59. An increase of R1,00 in household income is predicted to add an additional 28 cents (multiplier of 1,28) to the local economy. The study estimates relatively weak growth linkages. However, even relatively weak growth linkages could lead to much needed new income and employment opportunities in the local farm and non-farm sectors if the constraints limiting agriculture, and hence broad-based growth in rural incomes, are alleviated. Agriculture-led growth in South Africa requires public investment in both physical and institutional infrastructure to reduce transaction costs and risks in all markets, thus encouraging greater participation by local entrepreneurs and private sector investors. In addition, the roles, functions and services offered by extension agents should be extended to promote collective marketing, facilitate land rental contracts and provide training, technical and business support for farm and non-farm entrepreneurs.     

Retail margins, price transmission and price asymmetry in urban food markets: the case of Kinshasa (Zaire)

Some African food markets can still seem to operate inefficientlyafter price liberalisation. This seems mainly due to the existenceof significant transaction costs because of small-scale operations,and is influenced by lack of grading, deficient infrastructureand information systems. It is shown in the case of retail marketsin Kinshasa that search, supervision and other difficult-to-measuretransactions costs are more important in the margin of foodproducts than the measurable marketing costs (e.g., storage,transport). It is also shown through time series analysis thatmost of the price transmission between wholesale and retailhappens in the same week and that price asymmetry, i.e., thedifferent transmission of price increases compared with pricedecreases, is present for most products. Products characterisedby relatively more standardisation and homogeneity are shownto have lower retail margins and to behave symmetrically. Amodel based on kinked demand curves and search costs might explainthis asymmetric price behaviour.     

景德镇陶瓷产业集群中商帮的发展、演变研究

商帮、会馆是商人为了降低商业运行费用、降低交易风险、更好地维护自身利益而在明朝时期主导、在清朝不断壮大并适应形势变化而演进的商业组织创新形式。作为营销申介，瓷商的作用是市场与瓷器工场的连接纽带。商人、商帮在景德镇陶瓷特色产业集群发展申发挥了市场的实现、反馈和调节功能作用，降低了陶瓷科技与产业封接成本；发挥了市场调节的功能，保证了集群经济的协调发展。     

从行业层面探讨影响我国出口国内分布的各种因素

文章依据全国各省分行业出口额的数据,研究了地理距离等因素对各行业出口在国内分布的影响。经分析发现,在样本期间,产生决定性影响的因素为：交易成本,包括地理距离（体现在各省至出海口距离和沿途运输基础设施指数）和本省中间品供给;管理成本,体现在各省至服务业中心城市的直线距离。上述因素对不同行业的影响有一定差别。其它因素没有产生明显影响。     

分成制需求方教育金融制度的理论渊源

在中国,传统的教育金融制度主要表现为助学贷款,目前也出现了在校园销售信用卡的业务.这些债权式教育金融制度不具有良好的"风险-收益"对称性,也不利于资金需求方转移风险.由于交易成本的存在和规避风险的需要,分成制教育金融制度是一种能克服债权类教育金融制度的有效合约.事实上,从现实中所存在的"租佃分成制"、"明星-经纪人盈利模式"以及"接收入比例还贷"等合约中,可以找到分成制的理论原型.     

Determinants of Smallholder Farmers' Marketing Channel Choice: Evidence from the Vietnamese Rice Sector

Cash crops such as specialty rice and other high‐value varieties produced for domestic and international markets are considered an increasing source of income for smallholder farmers in many Asian countries. The present study focuses on the factors affecting Vietnamese specialty rice farmers' choice of marketing channel and how their choice influences farm performance. The analysis has been conducted using multinomial logit and linear regression models on quantitative data collected from 280 specialty rice farmers in the Red River Delta, one of the main rice production regions in Vietnam. Results reveal that even though local collectors and wholesalers are still the most common recipients of farmers' goods in rural areas, reduction in transaction costs with regard to uncertainty influences farmers to choose modern marketing channels through collective action (via specialty rice farmer associations). This collective marketing channel helps farmers increase average prices received by US$0.028 per kg of paddy. Based on the results, manifold political implications are derived.     

校企合作培养创新型人才的进化博弈分析

结合交易费用理论,构建了校企合作培养创新型人才的进化博弈模型,讨论了高校和企业最终可能积极合作的四种情形,并对分析了其中的理想情形。研究表明:合作成本和培养成本越低,在合作过程中获得的支持力度越大,高校越容易倾向于积极与企业合作;合作成本、培养成本,以及企业因资助高校而承担的财政压力越低,所培养人才的绩效越显著,企业越倾向于积极与高校合作。     

Infrastructure design and urban form: An exercise in geometry

Summary The article presents an elaborated application of Von Stackelberg's Law of Traffic Refraction. This law is used to show how the shape of an urban area is influenced by the construction of new roads on which generalised transportation costs are appreciably lower than in the original urban area. The change in structure and direction of traffic is analysed. Finally computations are presented concerning total transportation costs in cities of different shapes.Parts of this paper lean heavily on an earlier paper by L.H. Klaassen and J.S. van Nouhuys, Nederlands Verkeersinstituut, Monografie NVI, no. IX, March 1954.     

商务成本与皖江城市带产业转移承接

产业转移是企业在为应对资源供给或产品需求等条件的变化,对其经济活动区位进行重新抉择的过程。制造和装配等价值链低端企业会偏好于要素价格、运输成本低的欠发达地区,产品研发和销售服务等价值链高端企业则偏好于低商务成本的发达地区。随着泛高铁时代的到来,皖江城市带的产业结构向研发和服务阶段升级的潜力巨大,现有的产业转移承接策略应着眼于为未来的发展预留空间。