中国古代耕牛保护制度及其对后世的影响

自西周以迄清朝,中国历代法律都严厉禁止任意宰杀牛,规定了相应的屠宰标准和审批手续。无论是牛主(牛的所有者)还是他人,私屠乱宰牛都是犯罪行为,要受到法律的制裁。这一制度的实施不是出于宗教的信仰或禁忌,也不是为了保护动物的福利(生存权),更不是为了保障食品安全,而是为了保证有足够的耕牛以满足农业生产的需要。这一制度对20世纪80年代前的中国近现代耕牛保护制度产生了深远的影响。     

逐步剥离:我国铁路重组合理组织边界的初步探讨

引入竞争、提高效率是我国铁路重组改革的重要目标指向，因此组织边界的确定以及与之相配套的竞争激励措施已成为重组模式选择的关键议题。本文以自然垄断和交易成本理论为指导，以竞争激励促进企业运行效率为依据，通过对世界各国多种重组模式的垄断与竞争格局进行比较分析，提出了用逐步剥离的方式逼近我国铁路重组合理组织边界的改革思路。     

Alternatives to blanket guarantees for containing a systemic crisis

This paper seeks to explain how policy actions undertaken at the outset of recent crises—particularly the issuance of extensive liquidity support and government guarantees—absorb off-budget fiscal resources and inappropriately constrain officials’ subsequent options for restructuring their country’s troubled financial and corporate sectors. Empirical evidence supports the commonsense view that the damage a crisis works on a country’s financial sector and on its real economy is lessened by taking market-mimicking actions that promptly estimate and allocate losses during the early stages of a crisis. The most important steps are to plan to call a timeout to separate hopelessly insolvent institutions from potentially viable ones and to provide haircuts, guarantees, and liquidity support in ways that protect taxpayers and avoid subsidizing insolvent institutions’ longshot gambles for resurrection.     

Industry aspects of takeovers and divestitures: Evidence from the UK

This paper examines takeover and divestiture activity at the industry level for the population of UK firms over the period 1986–2000. Consistent with US research, takeovers in the UK cluster both across industries and over time. The evidence for divestitures indicates clustering across industries only. The paper further investigates whether broad and specific industry shocks (e.g., growth, free cash flow, concentration, deregulation, foreign competition, technology, stock market performance) explain takeover and divestiture clustering at the industry level. The results suggest that broad shocks increase (decrease) the likelihood of takeovers (divestitures), although not significantly for takeovers. Specific industry shocks that increase the likelihood of takeover activity include low growth, the threat of foreign competition and high stock market performance. For divestitures, high industry concentration and deregulation increase activity. Little evidence is found for deregulation as a significant factor in explaining takeover activity.     

Economic and Household Impacts of Projected Policy Changes for the Irish Agri‐food Sector

The policy environment for the Irish agri‐food sector could change rapidly in the coming decade. A potentially positive factor will be the elimination of milk quotas in 2015, although a potentially negative factor will be further trade liberalisation and increased import competition. These changes come on top of the move to decouple direct aids to farmers in 2005 as part of the Mid‐Term Review of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy agreed in 2003. This paper examines these reforms and their impacts on the Irish economy and income distribution using a CGE model particularly rich in detail on the agri‐food sectors, differentiated household groups, and agricultural policy instruments including their links to productive factors and households. The results suggest that the past and projected changes in the policy environment have, in sum, a small positive impact on GDP and household income. However, the gains and losses are unequally distributed across sectors and household groups due to the highly differentiated distribution of support and protection. Although all households generally gain from the sequence of policy reforms in the long run, some experience strong adverse effects from particular reforms and in the medium term.     

Characterisation of extensive beef cattle systems: Disparities between opinions,practice and policy

Increasing pressure on extensive farming systems in marginal areas requires them to become more resilient and adaptable to extreme conditions brought about by climate change. Yet these rangeland areas must also be protected as refuges for biodiversity and as important carbon stores. Recent United Kingdom policy initiatives are encouraging the use of traditional or native breeds of livestock to preserve genetic diversity, due to their perceived adaption to harsh environments and their value for managing extensive habitats for conservation. It is not clear however, whether these benefits are based on scientific evidence or perhaps more on current opinion; nor whether farm system practices are likely to change in response to these initiatives. This study offers an approach that can support future empirical studies designed to better inform such policy decisions.A survey was carried out to provide insight into current opinions regarding the impacts of cattle on hill environments and the cattle breeds appropriate for hill environments, before more detailed farm interviews provided data for a characterisation of suckler beef farming systems in Scotland using a typological approach. Survey results indicated that the majority of respondents believed cattle have a positive effect on hill environments when carefully managed, yet there was wide diversity in opinion regarding the type of impacts and most suitable breeds. Interview results highlighted the diversity of management systems, decision making processes and cattle types present and indicated significant variation in farmers’ views regarding breed hardiness, suitability and reasons for their choice of breed. Three system groups: Traditionalists, Improvers and Production optimisers, were clearly defined by the typology, with significant variation observed in their management practices and views. This study suggests that hill beef farmers appear to not only adapt their production systems according to their current bio-physical and financial circumstances, but also from personal experience. Accumulation of this kind of evidence is long overdue and could provide support to the development of any future policies regarding cattle and hill environments.     

信用保险参与农产品经营的探讨

新型城镇化实现的前提是“三农”问题的有效解决,而解决“三农”问题的关键在于农产品企业的发展壮大.本文从农产品生产和经营特点入手,剖析农产品企业在生产经营中遇到的各种问题,从实际案例出发,探讨信用保险在农产品企业经营中发挥的作用以及存在的问题,并提出相应的解决思路.     

Rising real wages,mechanization and growing advantage of large farms: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines dynamic patterns of land use, capital investments and wages in agriculture using farm panel data from Indonesia. The empirical analysis shows that with an increase in real wages that prevailed in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in rural areas, relatively larger farmers increased the size of operational farm land by renting in land as well as used more hired-in machines through machine rental and/or service providers, which induces the substitution of labor by machines. Machines and land are complementary and, consistently, the inverse farm size-productivity relationship tends to be reversed among relatively large holders. The results support growing (diminishing) advantage of large (small) farms in the presence of rapidly rising real wages and have food security policy implications to many Asian countries where real wages are rapidly rising and small farms are predominant.     

The Sexual Economy,Gender Relations and Narratives of Infant Death on a Tomato Farm in Northern South Africa

Based on an extended case study of a large‐scale tomato farm in northern Limpopo province, the paper examines how the restructuring of agriculture transforms the sexual economy through shifts in the composition of labour and management practices on farms in this area. The employment of Zimbabwean migrants, rather than relatively permanent Venda families, suggests a potentially greater variety of people participating in the sexual economy. While families as units of employment have declined, black supervisors increasingly serve as a primary locus of coercion on the farm and in the sexual economy. The monetization of erstwhile paternalistic services places pressure on women to earn income however they can, including transactional sex. Contested interpretations over the causes of infant deaths on the farm, in the form of hygiene, blood‐mixing and infanticide, provide an ethnographic framework for a deeper analysis of the sexual economy and its social effects. While the sexual economy presents opportunities for women to increase their income, it also exposes them to the risks of HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies, resulting in contradictory implications for the status of women on farms.