Labor migration and the decoupling of the crop-livestock system in a rural mountainous area: Evidence from Chongqing,China

Massive out-migration of rural labor force brings both challenges and opportunities to crop-livestock integrated production system (crop-livestock system) in smallholder economy. Compared with previous researches that have paid major attention to the effect of labor migration on either crop production or livestock husbandry, this study considers the mediating role of crop production in predicting the effect of labor migration on livestock raising. Our econometric estimation based on a 2012 survey of 974 rural households in Chongqing, a mountainous region of China, showed the following. (1) The massive migration of rural labor force had led to significant increase in farmland abandonment and considerable changes in the pattern of livestock raising. (2) The livestock raising number per household began to differentiate, with the livestock system separating from the traditional crop-livestock system and becoming a specialized business. (3) In terms of the pathways through which rural labor migration exerts impact on livestock raising number, though the increased opportunity costs of rural labor greatly reduced farmers’ willingness to raise livestock, the decoupling of the crop-livestock system partly alleviated the declining trend in the livestock raising number because of the availability of household labor force freed from cropping via farmland abandonment. These findings have important policy implications for rural development and agricultural restructuring in mountainous areas of China, and provide references for other developing countries.     

数字经济时代会计变革及对策

随着数字经济时代的来临，以人工智能技术为代表的现代信息技术越来越多地应用到会计工作中，会计工作将进入数字会计时代，向共享会计、管理会计、智能会计发展。为了适应数字经济带来的变化，会计机构要成为企业的“数据中心”，发挥管理和服务职能。会计人员要积极学习现代信息技术和管理知识，实现由核算型向管理型转型。     

A game theoretic approach to optimize multi-stakeholder utilities for land acquisition negotiations with informality

To combat the critical stresses of rising urbanization, the government acquires land from private owners using the power of eminent domain. This land assembly causes negative externalities such as increasing social tension and injustice that may impose a long-term threat to stability and sustainable development. Therefore, there is a need to make the land acquisition process more transparent and just. Considering the unique Indian context where informality has a strong presence, we propose an approach based on game theory that models the bargain through a three-stage Nash equilibrium game. Four agents – the government, the private developer, the landowner, and the free rider – are considered. We provide conditional solutions for the generalizable Case and proceed to model different stakeholder behavior patterns through two utility functional forms – linear and exponential. In the linear case, we find that the free rider obtains half of the revenue of the project, whereas the landowner gains between one-fourth and one-half of the revenue. Thus, we highlight the undeniably crucial role free riders play in land acquisition negotiations. However, closed form solutions cannot be obtained for the exponential form, due to which we use simulations to demonstrate a solution procedure. We conclude by stating that the proposed model can be useful in formulating future land policies in a sustainable and inclusive manner, with optimal utility derivations for all concerned stakeholders. Our model can also be extended to other spatial contexts where informality features heavily in the land market, especially in the Global South.     

浅议CPA审计行业专门化问题

随着我国市场经济体制改革的不断完善,CPA审计行业所面临的社会环境也因此而产生了重大的变化。伴随着社会对审计人员的严格要求,审计人员的素质也在不断提高。当然,这对CPA这个行业无疑也产生了深深的影响,同时也对行业的专门化也起到了潜移默化的推动作用。因此在本文中,将会立足于注册会计师审计实务,通过具体分析行业专门化的竞争优势和目前的发展趋势,讨论审计行业专门化可能带来的经济后果,并且与多个上市公司的案例相结合,运用案例分析法、经验总结法、描述分析法等方法合理透彻地剖析出目前CPA审计行业所存在的问题,以及对已经存在的问题作出具体解决方案。     

将“合伙人制”融入“合作制”的一项尝试——基于MGL合作社的案例解读与探讨

当前,合作社异化已成为阻碍合作社进一步发展的痛点,其中"合作制"下社员剩余索取权和控制权的丧失是矛盾核心,因而探求其改进方式对合作社长远发展、实现乡村振兴有重要意义。本文基于效率与公平衡量维度,通过对MGL合作社这一典型案例进行剖析发现,有效的合作社在治理结构和利益分配上具备"合伙人制"特征,并且基本契合不完全契约理论有关能够有效解决契约双方信息不对称以及剩余索取权、控制权被少数社员占有的论述。对此,应充分重视合伙人制在合作社发展中的内在有效性,弱化其是否具有规范的外在形式。     

供给侧改革视角下的养老旅游产业发展研究--以广东省阳江市为例

供给侧结构性改革作为适应和引领经济发展新常态的重大创新,用改革的办法对错配的供需结构和扭曲的要素配置进行矫正,根据需求结构变化及时优化供给结构,实现资源优化配置和经济长期均衡发展。阳江作为滨海旅游城市,应抓住机遇,深化养老旅游产业供给侧结构性改革,优化养老旅游产业的供给结构,合理配置养老旅游资源,扩大养老旅游服务的有效供给,推进养老旅游产业的持续健康发展。     

GMO-free regions in Europe: an analysis of diffusion patterns

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been a controversial issue in the European Union (EU). A growing number of member states and regions within the member states oppose the EU’s agro-biotechnology policy, resulting in a complex multi-level structure of policy-making. This study is interested in the regional opposition to GMOs and scrutinises the determinants of membership in the European Network of GMO-free Regions. In terms of theory, this study builds on the literature of policy diffusion. For the analytical purpose, we distinguish among four diffusion mechanisms: learning from earlier adopters, economic competition among proximate regions, imitation of economically powerful regions and deviation from national law. Our research questions are the following: How has membership developed since the foundation of the network? Which mechanisms explain the diffusion patterns observed? The empirical findings show that membership in the network has grown substantially between 2003 and 2014, which supports the general expectation that there is a diffusion of GMO-free regions. Yet, most new member regions are located in the same member states as the regions that founded the network. In other words, what is observed is intra-country diffusion rather than inter-country diffusion. The empirical findings provide support for the importance of learning from earlier adopters for the growing of the European Network of GMO-free Regions.     

Non-income effect of land ownership and tenure on subjective wellbeing in South Africa

Aside from the very high inequality of land ownership, South Africa is characterised by a dual land tenure system comprising of private ownership and communal land ownership. Using waves 4 and 5 of the National Income Dynamics Study longitudinal data set, a set of econometric methodologies is employed to quantify the impact of ownership and tenure on an index of subjective wellbeing (SWB) constructed from eight self-reported responses covering general life satisfaction, contrast, social capital, mental health and hope for future. Controlling for the income effect and other pertinent drivers of SWB, the study highlights the non-income impact of land ownership and tenure on the subjective wellbeing of individuals. To account for possible endogeneity and self-selection, instrumental variable and matching method-based treatment effects are computed. This paper has two main findings in relation to land tenure in South Africa: (a) land owners have on average a higher index of SWB compared to those not owning land, and (b) owning land privately, compared to owning land communally, has a positive impact on subjective wellbeing within land owners. These results are consistent and statistically significant across the various estimation strategies and provide additional motivation for expediting land reforms in South Africa.     

Can China escape the middle-income trap?

Can China continue its relatively rapid economic growth and rise to the high-income status in the coming decade? In this article we address this question by examining three issues. One, is the current slowdown mainly a cyclical or a structural phenomenon? Two, can China successfully transform its growth model? And, three, what does China need to do to foster its capability of technological innovation and industrial upgrading? We conclude that, with necessary reforms, such as improvement in the education and research capability, liberalization of the financial system and introduction of a more transparent and accountable political system, China will most likely be able to escape the middle-income trap in the next 10 years.     

Expanding airport capacity of cities under uncertainty: Strategies to mitigate congestion

Airport capacity constraints are increasingly challenging the growth of air traffic. At the same time, decision-making about airport capacity investments is extremely complex, involving trade-offs. This paper’s objective is to optimise a privately owned airport system’s capacity investment decision in a city under demand uncertainty. Next to the investment size, our real options model incorporates the timing of the investment, as well as the cost of congestion. The results reveal that the larger a city’s initial airport capacity, the smaller its investment will relatively be and the lower the occupancy rate threshold at which investment will take place. We also show that, in case of a higher demand growth combined with more demand uncertainty, the city will benefit from a significantly larger investment, but made later at a higher occupancy rate. In this case, cities with a small initial capacity will sometimes even more than double current capacity. Higher airport charges and an increase in non-aeronautical revenues both lead to a later investment in more capacity, due to the increased project attractiveness. An increase in congestion costs results in a larger investment made earlier, in order to eliminate delays. Airport operational cost and capacity holding cost increases both lead to smaller investments.