The land question in KwaZulu: Is land reform necessary?

Land reform in the ‘homelands’ depends on whether or not a viable economy can emerge in these areas. If not, the only alternative may be to accept the failure of rural development and follow the new state policy line of ‘positive urbanization’. Outside the limits of state policy, the apparent consensus on freehold tenure may be illusory. Black‐held priorities for land appear to differ at base from those held up by white groups. White business interests want to see large‐scale commercial farming, while blacks want the free and secure right to hold and deal in land, together with a right to use rural land for residential purposes.

There is renewed international interest in land reform. Some of the Far Eastern market economies have obtained startling rises in production under a reform regime of owner‐operated mini‐farms. It is doubtful if this type of reform is appropriate in KwaZulu, where the tenure system already strongly protects the universal right to hold land, and where the community's small role in land matters is still important to local self‐organization capacity. More appropriate models might be found in Zimbabwe and China, which have also achieved sharp rises in small‐farm production without full freehold tenure. Zimbabwe's village committee system recognizes existing land rights and allows for substantial local option. In China, decentralization policies seem to be encouraging a new rural economy in which most of the population may eventually be absorbed into self‐generated nonfarm activity. This kind of enterprise‐led rural development, may offer a possible pattern for KwaZulu.     

Worldwide Inflation and International Monetary Reform： Exchange Rates or Interest Rates？

The international dollar standard is malfunctioning. Near‐zero US short‐term interest rates launch massive hot money outflows into emerging markets (EM) in Asia and Latin America. Each EM central bank buys dollars to prevent its currency from appreciating but loses monetary control. Despite some appreciation, average inflation in EMs is now much higher than in the old industrial economies and world commodity prices are bid up sharply. This inflation on the dollar's periphery only registers in the US CPI with a long lag. However, the more immediate effect of the Fed's zero interest rate is to upset the process of bank intermediation within the American economy. Bank credit continues to decline while employment languishes. Therefore, constructive international monetary reform calls for the Fed to abandon its zero‐interest rate policy, which is best done in cooperation with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England also abandoning their ultra low interest rates.     

Land reform in South Africa: A vehicle for justice and reconciliation,or a source of further inequality and conflict?

One of the primary stated aims of the South African government's land reform programme is to contribute towards reconciliation by addressing the injustices and inequalities of past land allocation. It is however not clear that the land reform initiative will be able to pursue its goals of distributive justice and reconciliation without in the process contributing to the very problems of inequality, competition and conflict that it seeks to overcome. The article outlines some of the ways in which this potentially contradictory process is likely to unfold, both in terms of the official approach outlined in the Green Paper on Land Policy, as well as in terms of likely developments on the ground. A related paradox is considered: that in order to overcome the land dispossession and disruption caused by forced resettlement, there will need to be further resettlement, as black people move onto formally white‐owned land. While in theory voluntary, and involving land gain, rather than loss, such resettlement is nevertheless likely to involve significant difficulties of its own. For land reform to stand any realistic chance of succeeding and of helping effect justice and reconciliation, we need to be as clear and honest as we know how as to what the real costs and unintended consequences are likely to be.     

论日本的土地征收制度

日本的土地征收制度颇具特色，除详尽规定了公共利益外，还设立了事业认定程序、裁决程序，规定了补偿制度，对征收中的争议提供了不同的救济途径。     

Small‐family farm types: Examples from Northern Namibia and implications for agrarian reform in South Africa

Small‐farmer types in southern Africa differ significantly in terms of factor‐input patterns and support structures. On peasant family farms (PFF) cash input costs are very low, non‐household labour is sourced largely from communal work groups through kinship ties, and support services needed to sustain production are minimal. By contrast, on commercial family farms (CFF) cash input costs are high, little non‐family labour is used and strong support services are necessary. The first objective of this article is to point out and emphasise the different situations which exist in these two small‐family farm types, based on data from farm studies in Northern Namibia. The second objective is to extract the implications of these differences in relation to development paths under land reform. This is based on experiences of the outcome of land reform in Latin America. It is concluded that the agrarian situation in post‐land reform South Africa will comprise a mix of large‐scale commercial farms and small‐scale farms of both the PFF and CFF types. It will be necessary to recognise the existence of each of these types and their interrelationships, to monitor their development, to understand their different production situations and to cater for their different needs.     

Promoting Private Entrepreneurship for Deepening Market Reform in China: A Resource Allocation Perspective

After more than three decades of rapid growth, China's economy is going through an important turning point, where structural imbalances in both supply and demand sides must be addressed for a more moderate and sustainable growth path. By focusing on the structural changes to its ownership, a central element in China's economic transformation under market reform, the present paper highlights the importance of private entrepreneurship in deepening market reform and, thereby, in driving economic growth in a more efficient and sustainable way. Based on a perspective of resource allocation and a conceptual framework of entrepreneurship, the paper elaborates on the evolution of the private sector and its performance in the context of ownership reform, making comparisons with the performance of the state sector. The analysis suggests that there is further room for more productive use of economic resources, especially capital, land and natural resources, by increasing the participation of private entrepreneurs in industries with high entry barriers in favor of state‐owned enterprises. Moreover, more competitive and equal access to productive resources through reform is needed to promote more productive entrepreneurship and to reduce rent‐seeking activities.     

Early-life experience of land reform and entrepreneurship

We examine the long-run impact of land reform experience in childhood and adolescence on entrepreneurship later in life. To do so, we take advantage of village-level variation in the Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform in China that transformed land property rights from a communal system into an individualized tenure system. We find that early-life exposure to land reform increases the probability of becoming an entrepreneur in adulthood. This positive association is mainly driven by exposure to the HRS increasing the propensity for solo and necessity entrepreneurship. We also find considerable heterogeneity in the long-run impact of early-life HRS reform exposure across subsamples. Females, individuals from low-income families, individuals with less-educated parents and individuals in the central region are more likely to become entreprenuers following early-life exposure to land reform. Overall, while previous research has found that land titling reform in China significantly increased business creation in rural areas, our findings imply that the positive impact of land reform on entrepreneurial ventures is likely to be understated if its long-run impact on those exposed to land reform early in life on the likelihood of their becoming entrepreneurs later in life is not considered.     

A historical irony in the making? State,private sector and land reform in the South African wine industry

This article traces the development of the land distribution policy of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) of South Africa. Despite the DLA ‘s political commitment to land reform by way of restitution, redistribution and tenure reform, to date no small‐scale wine farmers have been settled in South Africa by virtue of this policy. Three case studies describe how agricultural labourers have successfully gained access to this lucrative sector through private sector intervention. It is also argued that the small farm versus large farm debate masks the real opportunities for land reform in the wine industry.     

日本对华ODA政策调整的趋势及原因分析

发展援助对日本战后经济的恢复和发展起到了重要作用。随着日本经济的发展，日本逐渐由接受援助国转变为世界最大的对外援助国。在日本经济长期低迷的情况下，20世纪90年代中后期以来，日本开始对政府发展援助（ODA）进行改革。在政府开展援助预算逐年减少的情况下，日本对华ODA在援助金额、援助方式、重点支持领域、地区分布等方面正处在调整时期，并且受日中关系波动起伏的影响。     

From share issue privatisation to non‐tradable share reform: a review of privatisation in China

Privatisation in China has proceeded on a gradual path over 30 years. In this paper, we present a detailed review of China's privatisation programmes from its Share Issue Privatisation (SIP) to its Non‐tradable Share (NTS) reform. The SIP was a primary offering process with state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) issuing new shares to private investors, but after their Initial Public Offering (IPO) approximately two‐thirds of the shares remained non‐tradable and were mainly held by the government. The SIP achieved only limited success because of its partial trading and partial privatisation, which led to the implementation of the NTS reform in 2005. The NTS reform aimed to dismantle the split share structure and provide opportunities for improving corporate governance and further privatisation. The review shows that the NTS reform has yielded greater success in improving firm performance and corporate governance than the SIP.     

农地制度的改革设想:新型土地股份合作制

本文设想了农地制度改革的方向:新型土地股份合作制。从新型土地股份合作制的具体运作办法、实行新型土地股份合作制的现实意义、家庭联产承包责任制向新型土地股份合作制的过渡和实行新型土地股份合作制应注意的问题四个方面对新型土地股份合作制进行了探讨和思考,认为新型土地股份合作制是农地制度改革的一个方向。     

Does Security of Land Operational Rights Matter for the Improvement of Agricultural Production Efficiency under the Collective Ownership in China?

Under the “separation of three rights” policy, the impact of security of land operational rights on agricultural production efficiency has attracted much attention in recent years. Data envelopment analysis and mediation effect analysis were applied to 888 family farms run by new‐type agricultural operators from Songjiang to identify the mechanism of the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency through long‐term investment. The results show that greater security of land operational rights generally increased agricultural production efficiency. Approximately 37.94 percent of the impact could be explained by long‐term investment. The results also indicate that significant heterogeneity exists in the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency at various levels of the family farms’ efficiency distributions. It is suggested that government should legalize land operational rights and give them a status equal to those of households’ contractual rights and land ownership rights in China's future land tenure reform.     

推动小农高质量发展：日本农业新政的指向与启示

2020年3月,日本政府对《食物·农业·农村基本计划》进行了第五次修订。本次修订基于推动小农高质量发展的基本导向,设置了2030年日本农业在保障食物自给方面的奋斗目标,围绕该目标的实现,从增强食物供给能力、强化小农生产基础、激发偏远地区活力、推动小农绿色生产、提升小农抗冲击能力和检视农民组织改革成效等6个维度进行了未来10年的政策部署。本次修订对中国的启示是:立足小农、服务小农、强化小农是推动小农高质量发展的根本出路;确保粮食安全是推动小农高质量发展的第一要义;实现"人""地"和"技术"的高质量是推动小农高质量发展的关键;强化农村内生发展是推动小农高质量发展的重要方面;加大农业投入是推动小农高质量发展的重要手段。     

试论城乡统筹发展中的宁夏土地制度改革

土地制度改革是城乡统筹发展的前提,文章分析了宁夏土地制度改革探索的成绩及问题,提出了明晰土地产权、提高土地征地标准、推进农村土地流转有效性、建立农地收益增长机制和加大对农民、种植大户、农民专业合作社组织的土地流转扶持力度等一系列土地制度改革的思路及政策建议。     

以地谋发展模式的风险与改革

土地在中国上一轮经济发展中扮演了独特且举足轻重的角色。这一时期土地制度不仅是实现经济高增长的秘密之一,同时也为中国经济的可持续发展埋下了巨大隐患。权利二元、政府垄断、非市场配置和管经合一的土地管理体制,为地方政府经营土地财政创造了条件,但也带来了日益增加的经济与社会风险。未来中国要实现可持续发展,必须改革以地谋发展模式,包括推动以产权为基础的市场配置方式改革,完成土地财政转型,完善与现代社会相适应的财产税制度,建立公平、共享的增值收益分配制度,建立服务现代社会管理的统一登记制度等五个方面。     

Trade policy impacts under alternative land market regimes in rural China

In this paper we apply a simulation model of a village economy in Guizhou province, China, to assess impacts of trade reform at the household and the village level under alternative land market regimes. Putting special emphasis on the modeling of household migration a trade reform scenario is simulated with and without the existence of a land rental market in the village.Significant impacts of the land market on the policy outcome regarding household production, income and welfare are found. The possibility to trade land within the village leads to increasing specialization into agriculture and migration among the households as a response to the policy shock. In a situation with a land market, incomes of households which expand agricultural production are less negatively affected by trade reform than incomes of households which migration more.At the village level, a land market does not influence the poverty outcome of the reform but reduces its inequality enhancing impact. Village migration and exports of agricultural outputs increase.     

日本中小企业专业化合作方式的变化与经营革新

近年来，日本经济形势发生了激烈的变化，使得中小企业的生存和发展遇到了前所未有的困难。日本的中小企业必须及时做出反应，通过改变专业化协作的方式和进行经营革新以继续发挥其对日本经济的关键作用．日本中小企业不断地进行经营革新，加大技术转化的力度，从而加快了企业的发展。日本正以中小企业为基础，稳步推进经济结构的改革，实现经济的复兴。     

从经济发展看日本战后的环境政策演变

战后,日本曾创造了经济的奇迹,又在短时期内摆脱了“公害大国”的形象,并长期使环境保护和经济发展“双赢”。这其中。环境政策和制度的改革产生了广泛和本质的影响。日本作为一个经济发达的国家在治理环境中面临新的问题时。做到了适应经济发展而不断采取新的环境战略,对发展中国家有着重要的启示作用。     

Productivity change and the effects of policy reform in China's agriculture since 1979

During China's rural reforms, policies were frequently adjusted. Most policies favoured the continuation and deepening of reform; but some were contradictory or even led to regression in the reform process. How have the rural reforms affected China's agricultural production over the past three decades; and what lessons can be learned to aid the future course of reform? To answer these questions, this study estimates productivity change in China's agriculture and evaluates the effects of policy on agricultural output during the reform period. Aggregated provincial‐level data for the 1979–2008 period are used in a translog production frontier model to estimate indices of total factor productivity (TFP) change and its three components—technical change, technical efficiency change, and a scale effect—with a focus on explaining the variation in technical efficiency. The estimation results show that the impressive improvement of TFP change is dominated by the technical change component. However, technical efficiency change and scale effects have worked against the improvement in TFP change in most periods. To improve technical efficiency, social welfare policies designed to eliminate the rural–urban divide, and reform polices focusing on factor market reforms, such as reform of the household registration system (hukou) and reform of land rights, seem to hold some potential.     

Modelling the impact of the ‘fast track’ land reform policy on Zimbabwe's maize sector

Zimbabwe has recently gone through a widely criticised land reform process that is argued to be the cause of subdued agricultural production. This paper attempts to present a counterfactual picture of the maize market in Zimbabwe had land reform been managed appropriately. The counterfactual is developed through a partial equilibrium framework in order to quantify the impact of the land reform programme. This, to our knowledge, is the first attempt at applying a partial equilibrium framework to an analysis of the impact of land reform. The results of the post-2000 land reform policy simulation showed that actual total maize output was lower than what could have been produced if it was under a pre-2000 land reform system. The study validates the assertion that land reforms contributed to the contraction of output. These results suggest the need for a well planned and executed land reform process, which can still play an important role in output growth and food security.