Land grabbing or economic development? A modernisation debate enacted on Bugala Island,Uganda

ABSTRACT

Globally, the phenomenon of large-scale land leasing, or ‘land grabbing’, is the subject of increasing concern. At the heart of the criticism of this phenomenon is the debate over the most appropriate methods of achieving economic development within the context of a rapidly globalising world. This paper analyzes the process and outcomes of establishing an oil palm plantation on Bugala Island, Uganda. The author asserts that tensions over land use within Uganda reflect incompatible understandings of the relations between land and society and distrust amongst stakeholders. In this case, in spite of these incompatibilities and distrust, the plantation has resulted in positive results for both local land users and the national economy. Yet at the same time, it demonstrates a traditional approach to land use that ignores past injustice and does not recognise power differentials.     

Seeing land deals through the lens of the ‘land–water nexus’: the case of biofuel production in Piura,Peru

ABSTRACT

This contribution examines two large-scale land acquisitions on Peru’s northern coast, using a ‘land–water nexus’ approach. The establishment of large sugarcane monocultures resulted in a massive transfer of land and water rights from smallholders to biofuel companies. Using Ribot and Peluso’s theory of access, we demonstrate that this transfer of rights was enabled by the convergence of neoliberal land and water reforms and the presence of the two investors. This constellation (1) altered smallholders’ bundles of rights; and (2) created sharp imbalances that radically changed access to land and water, not only through changing bundles of rights, but also, and maybe more significantly, through widening the gaps between smallholders’ and biofuel companies’ bundles of powers. Using Hall et al.’s powers of exclusion approach, we identify the processes both underpinning and resulting out of the changing access relations analyzed in this study. Changes to Peru’s water governance may accentuate power asymmetries between investors and smallholders, constraining locals’ access to increasingly scarce water.     

C股与现流通股是替代品还是互补品的金融经济学分析

我国应当按照一股两制、一股两市的方针,开设一个递进流通市场,在该市场向全体股民减持国有股。由于此市场的建立,市场化的并购将会建立起高效率的公司治理结构,将会激励经理阶层提升公司的价值,会促进现有流通股股价的上涨,因而是解决我国国有股减持问题的好方案。     

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。     

论西北欠发达地区农村土地流转制度的完善

在我国现有的农村土地流转制度中,无论是国家层面还是地方层面都存在着诸多不完善之处,且在发达地区与欠发达地区之间也存在较大差异。在目前条件下,应该对西北欠发达地区土地流转制度给予必要的反思,并就西北欠发达地区土地流转制度的完善提出相应的建议。     

论著作权合理使用制度的适用范围

由于合理使用处在权利与限制的交界处,其适用范围的任何变化,都可能重塑著作权法。面对新技术的冲击,在确定合理使用的适用范围时,不能因技术的便利而干涉著作权市场对信息资源的配置,而应恪守合理使用最初的立法理由,将其定位为对市场失灵的弥补,在利用行为有助于公共利益的基础上,考察其是否符合交易不能或正外部性市场失灵,同时把对作品潜在市场的影响视为最关键的判断标准。这不但维护了著作权的私权属性,更是界定合理使用适用范围的最佳路径。     

Counting homeless persons with surveys of users of services for the homeless

Abstract

Because of their comparative economy, the most commonly used methods for counting the homeless focus on users of shelters, food lines, health clinics for the homeless, and other services for the homeless. This paper argues that surveys restricted to shelter users are of limited usefulness, but that joint surveys of food‐line, shelter, and clinic users include very substantial proportions of the homeless in many communities. Such comprehensive surveys can provide an accurate basis for research on the homeless in communities with reasonably capacious service systems. The reliability of such surveys has grown as service systems for the homeless have improved. Groups of the homeless that tend to be missed in service user surveys include homeless youths on their own as well as substantial portions of the rural homeless population and of the doubled‐up or institutionalized homeless populations. Surveys of homeless persons sleeping in known places “on the streets” can be used to supplement surveys of service users. Research in Colorado suggests that such supplemental surveys of the street population provide a practical basis for comprehensive estimates of the homeless street population.     

大陆集体土地征收补偿制度改革探讨--基于两岸土地征收的比较视角

土地征收不可避免,因涉及重大的利益调整,既需规范,也需谨慎启动。两岸虽然土地制度不同,但土地征收改革面临共性问题,在基本征收程序设置、利益衡量机制上均具有相似性。相比之下,大陆集体土地征收启动的前提条件失之于宽,政府享有事实上不受限制的征收权并缺乏制衡机制;补偿额未考虑所有权让渡,仅部分弥补使用权价值;在补偿价的形成方式上,剥夺了集体土地所有者的市场主体地位,同时,集体所有权虚置,土地集体所有权的共有人被架空。通过适当界定征收目的性限制,转变城镇化建设思路,克制征地行为的启动与征收规模;承认土地集体所有权平等独立的市场主体地位,市价补偿,打破土地供给垄断;明确征收相对人与重构集体经济组织并举,构建开放性的制衡机制,有助于平衡、保障各方利益,完善征地补偿制度。     

农村土地流转政策的执行偏差——对小岗村的实证分析

农村土地承包经营权的流转是完善我国农村工作非常重大的现实问题,但政策执行过程中容易产生偏差。有哪些偏差,其原因何在?街道层官僚理论为分析中国农村土地承包经营权流转的政策执行提供了一个全新的理论视角。以中国改革第一村——小岗村为研究对象,以街道层官僚理论为视角,通过对小岗村的农村土地流转政策执行情况及偏差原因进行实证分析。研究发现,处于公共政策执行末梢环节的街道层官僚在资源稀缺和公共服务弹性需求的夹缝之中,因其特殊的身份、地位和工作性质而持有相当大的政策制定能力,导致公共利益权威分配过程中产生偏差;分析了形成该问题的三个具体原因,对提高我国农村土地流转政策执行的质量具有一定的借鉴意义。