The effects of China's Sloping Land Conversion Program on agricultural households

In the late 1990s, China aimed to mitigate environmental degradation from agricultural production activities by introducing the world's largest “Payments for Environmental Services? program: the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP). We develop a microeconomic Agricultural Household Model, which can model the production, consumption, and nonfarm labor supply decisions of agricultural households in rural China in a theoretically consistent fashion. Based on this theoretical model, we derive an empirical specification, which we econometrically estimate using the Hausman–Taylor method and a large longitudinal farm household data set. The empirical results significantly differ between regions, but are generally consistent with the results of our theoretical comparative static analysis, for example, that the SLCP significantly decreases agricultural production. While the SLCP only increases nonfarm labor supply and total consumption in some regions, these effects could not be observed in others. The recent reduction of the SLCP compensation payment rates generally had negligible effects on agricultural production and off‐farm work and only very small effects on household consumption.     

Exploring the widening food gap: an international perspective

Using data for a long panel of 90 developed and developing countries, this article explores the effects of research and development (R&D) and fixed capital stock on agricultural land productivity over the period 1961–2012. Instruments are used for R&D to deal with feedback effects and measurement errors. The results show very high social returns to investment in R&D and to fixed capital stock, suggesting that increasing investment in these factors are promising ways of arresting the increasing food prices due to increasing demand for animal protein, population growth, desertification, salinization, soil erosion, climate change, and decreasing growth in land productivity.     

农业废弃物在矿山生态恢复中的应用

矿山废弃地多为裸露岩面,需要大量的土壤用于植被的恢复与重建。同时,我国农业废弃物数量巨大且逐年增多,其合理利用与管理也成为一个难题。将矿山生态恢复与农业废弃物有机结合,是寻找矿山生态恢复治理和农业废弃物资源合理利用的新思路。本文阐述了我国矿山废弃地的治理现状、农业废弃物的特点,探讨了可用于矿山生态恢复的农业废弃物的基质类型及其应用前景。     

对外开放格局下承接农业产业转移对现代农业发展的影响研究

加快现代农业发展是十二五期间我国农业发展的重要战略。在国际及国内区际产业转移背景下,承接农业产业转移对承接地区现代农业发展具有重要的推动作用,一是推动农业技术体系的转型和升级,二是推动农业生产方式的全面革新,三是推动现代农业产业结构体系的形成。必须创新农业发展策略,以发挥承接农业产业转移对现代农业发展的积极作用,加快现代农业发展。     

新疆支农贷款在新农村建设中的效益分析

自从西部大开发政策实施以来,新疆的支农贷款逐年增多,新疆农业与农村经济也取得了很大的成就,农业生产条件比以前明显改善,但其效益不佳。本文主要运用柯布—道格拉斯函数和相关系数模型对支农贷款在新疆社会主义新农村建设中的效益进行分析,并提出相关政策建议。     

浙江省农产品国际竞争力的实证分析

本文分析了浙江省农产品贸易的发展现状和特点,并运用国际市场占有率(MS)、贸易竞争力指数(TC)、显性比较优势指数(RCA)对浙江省农产品国际竞争力进行实证测度,分析了浙江省现阶段农产品国际竞争力现状和变化趋势,表明浙江省农产品参与国际贸易的力度不够,发展潜力巨大,并就此提出了提升浙江省农产品国际竞争力的对策建议。     

产权管制放松博弈与中国农业生产危机——基于结构突变面板数据模型的实证分析

基于产权管制放松的分析视角，本文构建一个政治风险下农民和国家的动态博弈模型来解释中国两次农业生产危机。此外，本文利用1959—1961年与1970—1977年两次中国农业生产危机的省级面板数据对理论模型进行了实证检验。结构突变面板计量结果表明，国家不会主动削弱自己的谈判能力，除非政策失误或外部竞争压力造成的冲击才可能迫使它在产权管制放松的博弈谈判中让步。     

Shift of the short-term temperature mortality relationship by a climate factor - some evidence necessary to take account of in estimating the health effect of global warming

Several studies have reported a 'V'-shaped relationship between short-term temperature and mortality rates, characterized by mortality rates that are higher when the temperature is extremely low or high than when the temperature is moderate. To quantify the effect of adaptation to a certain climate on this V-shaped short-term temperature-mortality relationship, we studied the prefecture-specific relationship between daily maximum temperature and mortality rates for 65+-years-old Japanese from 1972 to 1990. For both genders, the optimum daily maximum temperature (OT) category at which the mortality rate was minimum ranged from 23C-28 C to 33+C, and the OT level became lower when the climate became colder. The mean OT level was lower for women than for men by 1.7C. The mortality rate at the OT was almost constant across prefectures, regardless of the climate. From the results, we considered that the adaptation effect on the short-term temperature-mortality relationship is mainly described by the 'horizontal shift model': the V-shape moves horizontally according to the climate. This 'shift' should be taken into account in estimating the health effect of global warming, and the model would be useful for the estimation.     

Aggregate supply response in Tanzanian agriculture

Tanzania is among the many African countries that have engaged in agricultural liberalization since the mid-1980s. in the hope that reforms that introduce price incentives and efficient marketing will encourage producers to respond. This paper assesses that claim by examining the supply response of agricultural output in Tanzania. Our estimates suggest that aggregate agricultural supply response is quite high so that the potential for agricultural sector response to liberalization of agricultural prices and marketing may be quite significant. The long-run elasticity of aggregate food crop output to relative prices was almost unity. Short-run supply responses were estimated at about 0.35 for aggregate food crops and for all (food and export) crops. Liberalization of agricultural markets, where it increases the effective prices paid to farmers, can be effective in promoting production, although complementary interventions, to improve infrastructure, marketing, access to inputs and credit, improved production technology etc, are probably necessary.     

我国农产品价格与热钱的实证研究

自2005年中国汇率形成机制改革以来,热钱流入中国的话题就开始趋热。在2006年末,世界农产品价格大幅上涨,围绕粮食、食品的国内外投资和交易成为新的经济热点。鉴于最近中国农产品价格发生了强烈波动的事实和农产品市场的重要性,本文通过对热钱规模和农产品价格指数的月度数据进行实证分析,得出热钱与农产品价格存在均衡关系,是农产品价格变化的Granger原因。