An analysis of delayed formal and interlinked informal credit in agriculture

A model of interlinked credit-product contracts between small farmers and large farmers when the small farmer faces delay in getting formal credit and the large farmer does not, has been developed. The small farmer remains on the reservation income level, and his reservation income is inversely related to the length of the delay. However, this does not hamper the productivity of the small farmer. The large farmer extracts the surplus through the interlinked contract and this surplus is positively related to the length of the delay. Interlinkage and non-inter-linkage equilibria become identical if the small farmer gets the formal credit at the beginning of the crop cycle. Various subsidy policies worsen the distribution of formal credit.     

The Socialist Legacy and Worker Perceptions of Transformation

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a study of worker attitudes from four post-socialist Polish enterprises towards aspects of enterprise transformation, namely organisational processes, working relationships and styles of management. We employ the concept of path dependence to identify structural, relational and attitudinal features of the socialist legacy at enterprise level. We argue that such an approach is valuable in identifying conceptual and practical problems of enterprise transformation in contrast to the determinism of neo-classical economic orthodoxy.     

农民收入水平对农村家庭能源消费结构影响的实证分析

本文依据调查资料,利用层次分析法实证分析了农民收入水平对农村家庭能源消费结构的影响,得出结论:农户的收入水平对农村家庭生活用能源种类的选择影响较大,因此不同收入水平的农户家庭能源消费的结构存在较大的差异;人均收入在4000元以下的农户,户用沼气的权系数最大,人均收入超过4000元的农户,液化气的权系数最大;农户的收入越高,对能源的舒适性、便利性、卫生特性的要求越高,农户的收入越低,对能源的经济性则考虑得越多;使用无成本、又便利的户用沼气非常适合在收入水平较低的农村地区推广。     

“非中介化”、农户货币偏好与农户信用重建研究

本文对农村金融中的常态“非中介化”和农户货币偏好规律进行了探讨,揭示伴随农户借贷行为而产生农户融资渠道的转变和货币偏好,这两种经济现象背后的实质是信用的核心———普适性信任在发生作用,提出通过建立农户贷款担保基金和强化农村合作经济组织建设,以重构农户信用。同时,通过完善农村信用社的经营机制和产权结构,优化对农户信用缺失约束的外部环境,以增强双方的信任度,从而达到消除农村金融中的常态“非中介化”等对农户收入增长的不利因素。     

知识员工薪酬支付过程激励的实证研究

薪酬对于知识员工的激励作用与其支付过程是紧密相关的。本文通过对广东省部分高科技企业知识员工薪酬支付过程激励现状的实证分析,论证了知识员工薪酬支付过程与其被激励程度之间存在着水平较高的正相关,同时,在薪酬支付过程中,支付环境、支付形式和支付时机对知识员工的激励程度相对较大。     

Information sharing as a safeguard against the opportunistic behavior of South African Karoo Lamb farmers

Misconduct in global meat supply chains are omnipresent and even more so in differentiated chains where credence attributes such as origin and taste are used to differentiate the product. By definition, these attributes signal asymmetric information which implies that in the presence of bounded rational individuals with conflicting interests, misconduct in the form of opportunistic behavior is bound to prevail. Increased information exchange through farmer networks is, however, expected to reduce opportunistic behavior. In the case of a differentiated meat product, such as Karoo Lamb, the article studies the farmer‐abattoir transaction with the purpose of recommending strategies that can be implemented to reduce the farmer's tendency to behave opportunistically. The article employs the PLS approach to SEM and reveals a significant negative relationship between information shared and opportunistic behavior. The results indicate significant positive relationships between trust in the abattoir and information shared as well as between farmer networks and information shared. These results are indicative of the support provided to the information shared construct by higher levels of trust between farmers and abattoirs and established farmer networks. It is, therefore, recommended that differentiated meat supply chains, through their various associations, concentrate their efforts to promote information sharing by building stronger, trust centered relationships and by supporting farmer networks.     

北京农民收入变化特点与促进增收的政策建议

党的十八大报告提出,到2020年我国城乡居民人均收入要比2010年翻一番,农民收入翻番是实现这一目标的重要组成部分。北京市2010年农民人均纯收入约1.3万元,如何在高起点上完成2.6万元翻番任务是目前亟待解决的问题。本文通过定量分析法、研讨法、文献法,梳理北京市"八五"以来的农民增收政策,得出在增收政策力度增大的情况下,农民收入的四个明显特征。一是收入水平增加明显,1995~2014年收入增长6.3倍。二是结构变化明显,工资性收入的增收贡献率与人均纯收入的增长存在显著的正相关关系;转移性收入在收入构成中的比重不断增加。三是区域差异明显,地区之间不平衡;城市发展新区增速略高于其它两个功能区;城乡居民收入差距持续扩大。四是内部差距明显,农民内部收入差距逐年拉大,收入分配不平等程度高于城镇。分析影响农民收入增长的因素时,得出农民存在自身素质局限性、收入来源狭窄性及收入支出失衡性的现实问题及社会保障、土地、财政、公共服务方面的制度问题。最后提出以加强政策可持续性、增强政策针对性、增进制度创新性为切入点,建立合理、有效、配套的农民增收政策体系,完成新形势下的收入倍增目标。     

Sustaining the Farming Household to Sustain the Farming

In the literature on sustainability of agriculture, both labourers and workers are conspicuously absent. Here, the sustainability of agriculture has been defined in terms of whether the farm household in question is able to yield an energy surplus when its members and the animals in its possession are obtaining an adequate ‘energy income’ or Calorie intake. To evaluate the sustainability of 590 farming households in the state of West Bengal, India, during 2004–5, four progressively stricter definitions of sustainability have been proposed, defined and applied. The method of energy balance analysis was followed. A negative surplus was found to be near‐universal across size‐groups in terms of the net area sown (NAS), the gross cultivated area (GCA) and agro‐climatic zones. The threshold output for a non‐negative surplus during the cultivating period was 700,000 megajoules (MJ); in terms of the GCA for a positive ‘full and final’ annual surplus, it was 3 hectares, and in NAS terms it was 2.5 hectares; against NAS per household size, it was 0.6 hectares, for ensuring a positive surplus beyond the annual sustainability. No evidence could be found in favour of household size as an explanation for the negative surplus.     

集体林区资源异质性农户林业生产行为动态特征及差异研究——以湖南省为例

分别以商品林农户、公益林农户和兼有林农户作为研究对象,采用描述性分析从林业生产过程和投入产出两个维度客观揭示3类农户林业生产行为动态特征及差异。打破将林区农户作为同质整体的传统假设进行研究的结果表明:商品林、公益林和兼有林农户林业生产行为整体趋势比较积极,但在造林、管护、采伐行为及林业投入产出等方面存在明显差异。因此,建议通过政策引导、市场调剂等方式形成商品林、公益林差异化经营优势,确保农户利益的同时,更好的贯彻森林分类经营管理理念,维护国家生态安全。