Chinese Rural Economy is supervised by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and sponsored by Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It aims to focus and study the major problems that need to be solved in China’s rural reform and development, as well as the important rural policies of the CPC and the government. Its scope covers rural situation and policy analysis, the system of rural property rights, rural land problems, and transfer of human capital and labor in rural areas. It has become an important window for the world to know Chinese rural economics and Chinese rural reform and development theories. The journal is included in CSSCI.
Based on the perspective of cross-regional mechanization services, this paper uses panel data from 13 major grain production provinces in China from 1997 to 2015 and establishes a spatial Durbin model and a threshold model to test the spatial spillover effect and threshold effect of highway infrastructure on agricultural growth, respectively. The conclusions are as follows. Firstly, in the short term, the construction of highway infrastructure has a spatial spillover effect on agricultural growth, but it is not significant in the long term. Secondly, the spatial spillover effect is mainly achieved by promoting the spillover of agricultural machinery rather than by promoting the flow of rural labors or the development of rural product markets and factor markets. Thirdly, the impact of cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery on agricultural growth has a significant positive threshold effect which varies with the construction of highway infrastructure, and this effect is characterized by rising initially and decreasing afterwards under different thresholds. The above conclusions suggest a necessity to construct “good rural highway” based on local conditions and people-oriented principle, to provide convenience for the development of cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery so as to promote adequate flow and rational distribution of agricultural machinery resources in different regions, and finally achieve a steady progress of agricultural modernization.
This paper measures the utilization efficiency of agricultural machinery and evaluates the impact of subsidy policies based on a DEA-Tobit approach. The results show that, from 2001 to 2015, the utilization efficiency has experienced an initial decline and increased afterwards to a certain stabilization level. From 2001 to 2006, it shows a declining trend. From 2007 to 2015, it goes upwards. The impact of subsidy policies can be divided into two different aspects, namely, stock increasing effect and structural improving effect. In addition, the utilization efficiency is also significantly affected by the policy environment, economic system and natural conditions. In the future implementation of subsidy policies, the government should adjust the scope of product subsidies in a dynamic way, enhance the level of policy pertinence and flexibility, and emphasize technology promotion and farmers’ training, in order to improve the utilization and management of agricultural machinery.
This paper analyzes the influencing mechanism of farming capitalization on hog price fluctuation from the perspective of capital intensive farming, and uses panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2002 to 2014 to calculate the capitalization level of hog farming in China. The study examines the stabilization effect of farming capitalization on hog price fluctuation in a comprehensive way. The results show that farming capitalization has a significant stabilization effect on hog prices. During the time period of the sample, the stabilization effect of farming capitalization on hog prices was 0.330. That means one-unit increase in the farming capitalization rate would induce hog prices fluctuation by 0.330 units. Besides, significant regional differences exist regarding the stabilization effect of farming capitalization on hog prices. The stabilization effect in the western region is the largest, followed by the eastern region, being not significant in the central region. Medium-scale capital farming and small-scale capital farming are the main forces to stabilize price fluctuation. However, the role played by large-scale capital farming is not obvious in stabilizing price fluctuation.
This paper used the theory of concerns for status to explain a function mechanism of income gap on farmer households’ consumption behaviors, and used data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2010 to 2014 to construct a balanced short panel for the regression analysis. It made a distinction between current social capital and potential social capital, and examined the role of social capital in the function mechanism. The conclusions were as follows. Firstly, the widening income gap significantly squeezed rural consumption, no matter it was within rural areas or between urban and rural areas. Secondly, current social capital may alleviate the squeezing effect of widening income gap between urban and rural areas on rural consumption, but not alleviate the squeezing effect of widening income gap within rural areas, even after introducing status consumption. Thirdly, rural areas with a low degree of marketization have a high necessity to accumulate potential social capital. Farmers’ consumption may be squeezed by the widening income gap in a more obvious way, and the proportion of status consumption is likely to become high. This may change their consumption structure. Therefore, the study concluded by proposing that narrowing the income gap could help to stimulate residents’ consumption, and reducing the need for potential social capital can help to reduce status consumption and optimize the consumption structure.
This paper constructed a dynamic supply response model for nine agricultural products by introducing variables such as expected profits and agricultural policy, studied the factors affecting the sown area and the yield per unit area of crops, and made a comparative analysis on the differences in agricultural product supply responses before and after the adjustment to agricultural policies in 2004. The results showed that the expected profits had a significantly positive impact on the sown area of crops. After the adjustment to agricultural policies in 2004, the impact of expected profits and natural risks on the supply of agricultural products generally weakened, indicating that China’s protection of farmers’ interests and increased investment in the agricultural infrastructure had enhanced the resilience of agricultural production. In addition, the sown area lagging one period and the yield per unit area lagging one period have great impacts on the supply of agricultural products, and the supply of agricultural products was rigid. The proportion of irrigated area and technological progress had significantly positive impacts on the yield per unit area of crops, and natural risks had a significantly negative impact on the yield per unit area. This paper believes that the relationship between expected profits and the agricultural product supply should be fully utilized, and the supply-side structural reform of agriculture should be promoted to change the structural shortage of agricultural products by changing comparative profits and farmers’ expectations. In addition, strengthening construction of the rural infrastructure, investment in agricultural science and technology innovation, and construction of disaster prevention and disaster prevention facilities can play a positive role in the supply of agricultural products.
Through a case study of homestead system reform in Luxian County of Sichuan province, this article finds that the changes in economic structure and village transformation are the internal demands of homestead system reform in traditional agricultural areas. The changes in the social and economic behaviors of the second generation of farmers are the major forces that cause homestead system reform. Due to the differences in the viscosity of different generations of farmers and their homesteads, intergenerational differences determine the rhythm and pace of homestead system reform. By summarizing the experience of homestead system reform pilot in Luxian County, this study provides a choice of paths for homestead system reform in traditional rural areas. That means to refine the system of acquisition of homesteads and ensure the protection of living rights based on per capita membership rights, to implement the paid use and returning of homesteads based on location and incentive oriented principles, to open up villages in an effective way and gather production factors by taking the county as the radius and relying on farmers’ identity, to achieve equal rights of homesteads and collective construction land in using unused homesteads, and to realize homestead management reform and utilization system in village autonomy under the village control and planning.
Based on the data collected from 849 rural households in the Loess Plateau of China, this paper conducted an exploratory factor analysis to measure the degree of participation of farmers in collective action from the dimensions of information, participation, organization and effect of action. Through a bootstrap moderated mediation effect test, the study further examined the direct impact of area and period of land transfer on farmers’ implementation of soil and water conservation measures, and the indirect impact of farmers’ participation change in collective action on the implementation of soil and water, conservation measures. It also verified the moderating effect of government compensation on the participation of collective action. The results showed that firstly, the area of land transfer had a significantly direct impact on the utilization of terraced fields, plastic film and afforestation, but no direct impact on the adoption of water-saving irrigation techniques. The period of land transfer had a significantly direct impact on the implementation of the four measures. Secondly, while collective action played a positive mediating role when the factors of area and period of land transfer affect farmers’ use of terraced fields, water-saving irrigation technology and afforestation, it played no significant mediating role in affecting farmers to use plastic film. Thirdly, government compensation played a significant moderating role for collective actions to influence the implementation of afforestation and water saving irrigation technology, and the moderating effect was negative for afforestation yet positive for water saving irrigation technology.
