对我国农村金融体制变革滞后问题的若干思考

我国农村金融体制的变革大幅度滞后于农村经济体制的变革,是一个时期以来社会经济体制当中各种矛盾相互交织而造成的必然结果,这一格局严重制约着农村经济的进一步发展,威胁着农业的国民经济基础地位。因此,当整体经济转型由“增量调整”进入“存量调整”阶段之后,应当均衡布局农村金融的改革与发展。     

农村信用社产权制度改革:理论、绩效与出路

农村信用社产权制度改革不仅是一个金融问题,而且是一个复杂的社会问题.长期以来我国农村信用社按照合作制进行规范绩效差的主要原因是,农村信用社产权制度改革的国家偏好和农民的接受程度之间存在着巨大的矛盾.文章建议通过稳定农村信用社的经营、拉长农村信用社产权制度改革的周期、完善农村信用社产权制度改革的外部环境、增加农村信用社产权制度改革的途径等四个方面的措施来推动我国农村信用社的产权制度改革.     

发展我国农村社会养老保险制度的几点思考

长期以来,我国城乡养老社会保障呈现了明显的二元化特征.笔者认为,应该从我国家庭户规模的变化、未来人口发展趋势、经济体制改革以及非经济因素等方面来全面考虑发展农村养老社会保险制度的意义、面临的挑战及改革思路.要根据各地经济发展水平不同建立分地区、分层次的农村养老社会保障制度,必须尽快将农村养老社会保障制度建设纳入法制化轨道,并且应推广发达地区的成功经验,继续进行试点工作.     

Does urbanization reduce rural poverty? Evidence from Vietnam

This paper uses data from household surveys to contribute to the urbanization-poverty nexus literature by assessing the effect of urbanization on income, expenditure, and poverty in rural households in Vietnam. We find that the urbanization process stimulates the transition from farm to non-farm activities in rural areas. More specifically, urbanization tends to reduce farm income and increase wages and non-farm income in rural households. This suggests that total income and consumption expenditure of rural households are more likely to increase with urbanization. Finally, we find also that urbanization helps decrease the expenditure poverty rate of rural households, albeit by a small magnitude.     

A Proposed Sustainable Rural Development Index (SRDI): Lessons from Hajij village,Iran

While there are many indices to gauge growth and development, there remains an ambiguity on how best to measure the development of tourism in rural locations. Current thinking emphasizes the specific characteristics of a given location and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas depicts a requirement for participatory processes in local development. This study is inspired by implementation of the European Charter in Northern Italy, using it as a guideline. The context for this study is Hajij Village in Iran, and the approach adopted differed from that undertaken in Italy with regards to the main target, time and procedures of implementation. The study proposes the novel index based on the weighted averages of 20 variables as used with a sample of 87 members of the Hajij Community. The study explores the possibility of quantitative measurements between the weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities associated with development plans.     

农村金融综合改革试验区:瑞安之探索实践

瑞安是“温州模式”的领头雁，自温州金融综合改革试验区获批之后，积极践行农 村金融改革，为全国金融改革提供经验。本文以农村金融组织与农类企业为对象，分别深入调 查实施主体的改革成效与服务对象的金融服务现状，从三维视角研究分析当前农村金融服务 存在的问题与原因，并以此为依据提出改善农村金融服务的对策与建议。     

Rural electrification and groundwater pumps in India: Evidence from the 1982–1999 period

India's groundwater extraction is heavily dependent on diesel pumps, and one reason is the lack of reliable power supply. The widespread use of diesel pumps is an economic problem due to the inefficiency and high cost of said pumps. Could rural electrification improve the situation? We estimate the relationship between village electrification and the counts of electric and diesel pumps in India, 1982–1999. We find that, in addition to increasing the number of electric pumps, rural electrification also greatly increases the number of diesel pumps. While initially surprising, these results make sense in an environment characterized by frequent power outages and constant quality problems. If rural electrification increases the number of electric pumps and promotes irrigated agriculture, the demand for diesel pumps also grows because many farmers need a reliable pump that does not depend on electricity. Without improvements in the supply of electricity through rational power sector reforms, India cannot stop the spread of diesel pumps through rural electrification. For energy and development economists, the results are novel because previous econometric work has largely focused on industrial uses of power.     

Redefining rural prosperity through social learning in the cooperative sector: 25 years of experience from organic agriculture in Spain

In the political system and in public perception, the well-functioning of economy is frequently equalled to the output of the national economic system. However, during the last decades, this narrow conception of economic prosperity started to erode. This paper is based on a rural prosperity conceptual framework that takes into account the systemic nature and dynamics of interactions and impacts within rural systems through the analysis of an organic agriculture cooperative called Camposeven in the south east of Spain. The focus is on rural prosperity, differences in understanding, related parameters and strategies used by the cooperativés farming partners to success without following the traditional conventions of economic growth and farm-efficiency. Experience lessons in this paper demonstrate that the “technical-economic” approach of rural prosperity is not sufficient and results emphasize the important role of individuals’ behaviour as well as the contexts in which they are involved. The findings point to the increasing relevance of expanding both the theory and practice of rural prosperity approaches in sustainable rural development. This is important in order to enrich the connections between rural prosperity and other concepts such as social capital, innovation, social learning and resilience.     

Progress in indicators to assess agricultural landscape valuation: how and what is measured at different levels of governance

Landscape is defined by the European Landscape Convention as “an area perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Many efforts have been devoted in addressing the core concepts on which this definition roots: perception and interaction of men and nature, but when coming to large (continental) scale assessments, the latter prevail on the former.This paper aims at presenting a framework for a measurable landscape awareness indicator as a key link to the public demand for a specific type of landscape: the agricultural landscape. This is a necessary effort to complement more physically based assessments, which include as well the impact of human activities on landscapes.The analysis is carried out at different levels of governance: EU and regional, using an example from the Alentejo region in Portugal and EU wide databases, and addresses conceptual and practical questions: what type of societal landscape awareness can be monitored and by whom (e.g., individuals, specific social groups, society as a whole); what are the landscape dimensions that should be assessed; what are the limitations imposed by data-related constraints. By applying the methodology to build composite indicators to map landscape societal awareness, the paper shows the regional and local meaning of indicator approaches developed at European level, presents developments for downscaling to regional level, while introducing the social component to support sound policy development for European rural landscapes.     

Organizing anarchy: The food security–biodiversity–climate crisis and the genesis of rural land use planning in the developing world

Shortfalls in global food production, coupled with the growing visibility of climate change's disruptive effects, have underlined for many observers the importance of devoting rural lands to their ‘optimal’ use, where they can make maximal contributions to the global imperatives of feeding the human population and maintaining vital environmental services. In this context observers have endorsed rural land use planning as a way to insure that, at least in theory, lands get devoted to their best uses. In practice, land use planning in the developing world has resembled ‘organized anarchy’. Small landholders with insecure land tenure, overseas investors seeking large land deals, NGOs representing indigenous peoples, government officials, and staff from international environmental NGOs and multilateral organizations have come together in strategic action fields to struggle over and sometimes negotiate land use plans for contested landscapes. These plans represent a strategic, spatially explicit response to the climate change–biodiversity–food security crisis.