农地私有化、市场环境与俄罗斯农业发展

1991年俄罗斯私有化改革之后,农业进入了负增长期。其深层次原因是市场环境不利于农业发展,非均衡的通货膨胀使农产品价格相对偏低,农业生产成本上升,收益却不断下降。在这种情况下,理性的农业生产主体只能选择减少生产,俄罗斯不得不依靠进口农产品来满足国内消费需求。1998年金融危机改变了农业发展的市场环境,卢布汇率的大幅度贬值抑制了进口农产品对俄罗斯农业的冲击,国内市场环境也开始向有利于农业发展的方向转变,俄罗斯农业从此走上了复苏之路。基于这种分析,2008年金融危机能够继续改变农业贸易条件和卢布汇率,因而这次金融危机仍然有利于俄罗斯农业的发展。     

Managerial Strategies for Spontaneous Privatization

Two Western economists examine the rapid changes in property and business forms of enterprises in the former Soviet Union using evidence from intensive interviews conducted through December 1991 and involving 80 industrial and commercial organizations. After reviewing the reforms that provided the legal basis for the process, they describe different managerial strategies employed in spontaneous privatization and examine the ensuing changes in contractual relations of firms with other entities such as ministries or banks. The authors also interpret spontaneous privatization on the basis of literature covering property rights and identify several groups that lose or derive benefits from the transformation. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P20, L2.     

Neo-settler colonialism and the re-formation of territory: Privatization and nationalization in Israel

In this article we critically analyse the production of Israeli territory vis a vis the ongoing transformation of land and planning policies from ones based on pure nationalism to those purporting neo-liberal logic. Unlike the existing literature ? including the most recent critical body of knowledge on planning, resource management and public policy in Israel ? we contend that this transformation must be understood within the framework of settler colonialism. Our main argument is that the growing dominance of neo-liberal policies, expressed in the form of new public management, privatization of space, planning and territorial management, is bound up with Israel’s settler-colonial politics. Based on our detailed study of the dynamics of the privatization of space in Israel, we conceptualize the interplay between centralistic-national territorial management and new public management, free market-driven, privatization-prone, liberal planning and land policies as neo-settler colonialism. This concept focuses on the symbiotic relationships between these two vectors, with the latter providing a new mechanism of colonial control.     

The Transformation from Communism to Capitalism: How Far? How Fast?

A prominent American specialist on Soviet and East European economies argues that there are important gains to be obtained from rapid market liberalization and privatization in the transition from communism to capitalism. These gains depend on the responsiveness of firms to market signals. A review of the available evidence suggests that rapid privatization is an important factor promoting such responsiveness. The paper also refutes “evolutionary” criticisms of rapid transition policies on the basis of available evidence from East Europe, historical evidence, and the incompatibility between evolutionary approaches and the desire for democratic regimes in East Europe and the former USSR. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E61, H11, L33, P21.     

Adivasiness as Caste Expression and Land Rights Claim-Making in Central-Eastern India

ABSTRACT

The adivasi population represents a special case in India’s new land wars. Strong individual and community rights to agricultural and forest lands have been enacted for this group based on notions of adivasi identities as primeval, but without linking these to economic and political influence. This article interrogates the adivasi land question seen through a caste lens. It does so via case studies in two states to understand the ways in which adivasi identity can be mobilised for its instrumental value and used to demand land rights. In Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court’s Samatha Judgement has prevented virtually all private mining activities. In Jharkhand, however, similar legislation is seen to be trumped by the national Coal Bearing Areas Act, as well as by former and current land acquisition acts that allow industrial land claims to take precedence over identity-based ones. Available evidence indicates the challenges involved in bringing support for land rights that are premised on a supposedly unchanging adivasi identity when these rights go against dominant interests. This circumstance serves to highlight the possibilities present in caste analysis to understand the plight of adivasis, despite their usually distinct treatment in scholarly analyses.     

Agrarian transformation in the Russian breadbasket: contemporary trends as manifest in Stavropol'

A team of US and Russian geographers combines field observations with satellite imagery in an examination of how major trends in Russian agriculture are manifest in one of Russia's most productive agricultural regions: Stavropol' Kray. A nationwide pattern of agricultural consolidation during the 1990s (featuring rural depopulation and a reduction in cultivated area and herd sizes upon the termination of Soviet-era subsidization levels) has had decidedly different outcomes in different parts of the vast Russian countryside. This paper – using Stavropol' as a surrogate for regions which by physical attributes, location, and human capital are best positioned to support agricultural activity – identifies a number of developments that may signal a new growth trajectory for agriculture in Russia: evolving specialization of former socialized farms in response to market conditions (in Stavropol' involving the shrinkage of animal husbandry and the release of surplus labor); increased levels of absentee (corporate) ownership of farmland in the more favorable locations; decoupling of the economic fate of large farms (success) from local municipal budgets (deficiency); and the expansion of non-Russian ethnic communities in the countryside, with attendant land use changes.     

Credit policies for Kazakhstani agriculture

This paper reviews the characteristics of the agricultural credit policy in Kazakhstan with a particular focus on emerging rural financial institutions. It is not easy to evaluate the real effect of credit policies due to the limited funds directed at agricultural production. Kazakhstani experience shows that commercial banks are used almost exclusively to provide agricultural producers with credit, while the new specialized credit institutions emerging in the agricultural sector only cater to a very small fraction of the total demand for credit. Presently, there are discussions in Kazakhstan concerning the creation of a specialized agricultural bank; however, this idea has some shortcomings that should be taken into consideration. Lack of credit is one of the main reasons for insufficient investment in agriculture. The underdeveloped land market in Kazakhstan makes formal credit institutions very cautious about accepting agricultural land as collateral.     

Livelihoods in transition: changing land use strategies and ecological implications in a post-Soviet setting (Kyrgyzstan)

The sudden independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a total rupture of industrial and agricultural production. Based on empirical data, this study seeks to identify key land use transformation processes since the late 1980s, their impact on people's livelihoods and the implication for natural resources in the communes of Tosh Bulak and Saz, located in the Sokuluk River Basin on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Range. Using the concept of the sustainable livelihood approach as an analytical framework, three different livelihood strategies were identified: (1) An accumulation strategy applied by wealthy households where renting and/or buying of land is a key element; they are the only household category capable of venturing into rain fed agriculture. (2) A preserving strategy involving mainly intermediate households who are not able to buy or rent additional agricultural land; very often they are forced to return their land to the commune or sell it to wealthier households. (3) A coping strategy including mainly poor households consisting of elderly pensioners or headed by single mothers; due to their limited labour and economic power, agricultural production is very low and hardly covers subsistence needs; pensions and social allowances form the backbone of these livelihoods. Ecological assessments have shown that the forage productivity of remote high mountain pastures has increased from 5 to 22 per cent since 1978. At the same time forage productivity on pre-mountain and mountain pastures close to villages has generally decreased from 1 to 34 per cent. It seems that the main avenues for livelihoods to increase their wealth are to be found in the agricultural sector by controlling more and mainly irrigated land as well as by increasing livestock. The losers in this process are thus those households unable to keep or exploit their arable land or to benefit from new agricultural land. Ensuring access to land for the poor is therefore imperative in order to combat rural poverty and socio-economic disparities in rural Kyrgyzstan.     

Spontaneous Privatization: A Comment

A prominent American economist and leading foreign advisor to Russian President Boris Yel'tsin comments on prospects for privatization by focusing on selected aspects discussed in a paper on managerial strategies for spontaneous privatization. Issues raised here include the need for more thorough understanding of the economic consequences of privatization, the precise characteristics of legal changes designed to bring it about, the role and relative importance of “insiders” and “outsiders” in the privatization process, and the potential of latent reserves of entrepreneurial talent in privatizing struggling enterprises. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P20, L2.     

Land reforms in Pakistan: A reconsideration

Abstract

Before the introduction of the high yielding varieties of food grain in the late 1960s the argument for land reform was a simple one. It was observed that small farms had a higher yield per acre than large farms, so it was argued that a re-distribution of owned land in favor of the smaller farmers would improve average yields in agriculture. Hence land reforms were considered advisable both on grounds that they would reduce the degree of inequality of rural incomes, as well as on grounds of efficiency. The efficiency argument for land reforms in Pakistan gathered momentum in the 1950s when agricultural stagnation began to fetter the growth of industry. Agriculture provided not only food grains for the rising urban population but also provided most of the foreign exchange with which industrial machinery and raw materials were imported. Accordingly, slow agricultural growth generated both a crisis in the balance of payments as well as food shortages in the urban sector. In such a situation even the technocrats who were merely interested in the growth of GNP joined the cry of the social reformers for a land reform. It began to be seen as a necessary instrument for accelerating agricultural growth and thereby releasing the constraint on industrial growth.     

Land Acquisition,Investment, and Development in the Lao Coffee Sector: Successes and Failures

ABSTRACT

Despite the increasing acknowledgment of scholars and practitioners that many large-scale agricultural land acquisitions in developing countries fail or never materialize, empirical evidence about how and why they fail to date is still scarce. Too often, land deals are portrayed as straightforward investments and their success is taken for granted. Looking at the coffee sector in Laos, the authors of this article explore dimensions of the land grab debate that have not yet been sufficiently examined. Coffee concessionaires in southern Laos often fail to use all of the land granted them and fail to produce high yields on the land they do use. Thus, the authors challenge the often-assumed superiority and effectiveness of large-scale versus small-scale production, specifically the argument that they modernize agricultural production and optimize land use. They argue that examining failed investments is as important as studying successful ones for understanding the implications of the land grabbing phenomenon for social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Knowledge about the scale of “failed land deals” provides important motivation for national governments to close the gap between intentions and actual outcomes. This article engages with the current debate on quality of investment and challenges the approach of employing land concessions as a vehicle for economic development in the Lao coffee sector and in other sectors and countries.     

The Interenterprise Arrears Crisis in Russia

Two American economists discuss in considerable detail the critical problem of interenterprise arrears (overdue payments for goods and services) in Russia that undermines the transition to a market economy and privatization. The study is based on interviews involving directors of 32 industrial enterprises, managers of commercial banks, and Central Bank officials in Moscow, Novosibirsk and Sochi from May to mid-November 1992. In addition to analyzing the causes of the mounting accumulation of debt and highlighting the financial problems of enterprises coping with the crisis, the authors examine the anatomy of present-day banking and extension of credit to finance production in the former USSR. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P21, Ol7, G20.     

Malawi’s land problem and potential for rural conflict

Government agricultural policies which favour large-scale agriculture and rapid population growth on a limited land area have combined to create a situation of land poverty in many parts of Malawi, especially in the southern region of the country. The government’s response to land poverty has so far been focused on the creation of resettlement schemes. As such initiatives are expensive, they have tended to be piecemeal and benefit only a small fraction of land poor families. Frustrated land poor families have now resorted to land encroachment on privately held land. The emergence of movements dedicated to the restoration of estates to families with ancestral claims to the land marks a new stage in land relations which could have unwelcome consequences.     

Introductory Comment on the Consequences of Chernobyl'

Property rights in the new phase of economic reforms in the Soviet Union are reviewed and analyzed by a prominent British economist. The paper details laws and decrees on leasing, land, inventions, joint-stock companies, securities, hard currencies, markets, small business, a state holding company, foreign investment, banking, taxation, monopolies, as well as on property ownership and business units in general. The main federal measures are then compared with relevant provisions in the so-called Shatalin Plan. Included in the effort is a section on terminology pertaining to destatization as well as an assessment of the process of privatization as of early December 1990. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 612.     

Agrarian and social change in a Javanese village

This article examines rural economic changes in a Javanese village since the introduction of the Green Revolution. Special focus is placed on rural labour market and on the structure of land tenure. It will be shown that cropping intensification, expanding work opportunities in the non-agricultural sector, the longer periods of education and the formation of a more rigid boundary between agricultural and non-agricultural work have helped to decrease pressure on the rural labor market. It will be argued in the latter part of this article that a pessimistic view of profitability in rice cultivation, coupled with rising land prices, has provided a condition in which capital investment in the agricultural sector is not thought of as the best option and consequently, the structure of land tenure has not experienced a substantial change after the Green Revolution.     

Beyond the ownership question: who will till the land? The new debate on China’s agricultural production

A high-profile debate is taking place in China concerning the organization of agricultural land and production, with profound implications for China’s countryside. This debate is between those advocating for agricultural production to be taken over by large-scale agribusinesses, and those against this. Proponents regard agribusinesses as embodying modernity and progress, while those against forewarn of the channeling of profits out of peasant hands, the loss of peasants’ autonomy over labor and land, and the destruction of rural life. Recent English language publications on China’s agrarian change highlight the growing power of agribusiness and related processes of depeasantization, implying the Chinese debate on “who will till the land?” is futile. But this view obscures efforts by Chinese scholars and policymakers to promote forms of agricultural organization conducive to maintaining peasant livelihoods. By examining the Chinese debates on agribusinesses, family farms, and cooperatives, this article highlights points of contestation among policymakers and alternative possibilities, which may yet shape the course of China’s agrarian change. This article contributes to scholarship on China’s agrarian change, broader questions concerning depeasantization, and developmental possibilities under collective ownership.     

Privatization in Transition Countries

Two economists at the International Monetary Fund review a selection of empirical studies on privatization experiences in transition countries. The purpose is to examine the relative performance of privatized and state owned enterprises. In so doing the importance of privatization method is stressed, as is the importance of the background market environment. The role of de novo firms in enlarging the private sector in transition economies is also reviewed, along with the question of whether privatization efforts support or hinder de novo private-sector development.     

韩国“身土不二”再诠释——从韩民族性格角度分析

"身土不二"是20世纪60年代韩国农协为号召韩国人消费本国农产品提出的一个口号,最初的含义指人和故土不宜分开,吃本土产出的东西对身体有益。后来经媒体宣传,它所代表的理念逐渐上升到了爱国层面,"身土不二"的出现虽具有一定的偶然性,但它能迅速普及并被韩国人认可却是必然的。简言之,韩国人独特的民族性格为"身土不二"提供了生长的土壤,"身土不二"是韩民族性格在当代演绎的产物。     

Ideas, Economic Pressures, and Pension Privatization

This article maintains that the recent wave of pension privatization has been spurred largely by rising pension expenditures and chronic capital shortages. Many policymakers in Latin America and around the world believed that privatizing their public pension systems would boost their domestic savings rate and resolve the systems' financial problems, thereby reducing their dependence on unstable foreign capital and freeing resources for other, more productive uses. There is no clear evidence that pension privatization will bring these economic benefits, however. To understand why policymakers held these beliefs, we must examine how ideas about pension privatization have formed. Two particularly important factors are the Chilean model and the World Bank's growing influence on pension policy. A probit analysis of the determinants of pension privatization provides support for these arguments.     

Brazil's Agrarian Reform: Democratic Innovation or Oligarchic Exclusion Redux?

The government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995–2002) redistributed a surprising amount of land to Brazil's landless. Assessing that reform, this study argues that an adequate appreciation of land redistribution must transcend the debate about the number of beneficiaries and place the reform in the larger context of state policies toward land and agriculture. It then asks to what extent such policies under Cardoso represented the dismantling of past state practices in the countryside. Although the Cardoso administration enacted some significant and democratizing changes, it missed other opportunities to benefit the rural poor, and its policies essentially maintained the agricultural model of the past two decades.