依靠组织创新推动农业技术进步

农业生产的一些基本特征决定了农户家庭是农业生产的基本组织,也是农业技术需求的主体.在技术和科学分立之后,公共研究机构成为农业技术的供给主体.供给和需求之间需要一定的中介组织进行连接.我国计划经济体制下的农业推广体系在向市场经济过渡的过程中逐渐失效,直接导致了农户家庭对农业技术的需求不足和公共研究机构的供给不足.组织缺陷制约了农业技术的进步.因此,有必要大力推进农村组织创新,构建与市场经济相适应的农村组织体系.     

Anchoring and Acquiescence Bias in Measuring Assets in Household Surveys

Cognitive psychology has identified and studied extensively a number of cognitive anomalies that may be important for the assessment of the economic status of individuals and households. In particular the use of brackets to elicit information about income and assets in surveys of households can interact with acquiescence bias and anchoring to cause bias in the estimates of the distributions of income and assets. This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study and the Asset and Health Dynamics Study to find that, as predicted by psychology, bracketing can produce bias in population estimates of assets.     

Population pressure and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh

The relationship between population pressure or density and agricultural productivity is examined by analyzing the changes in the land-man ratio and the changes in the level of land yield in the 17 districts of Bangladesh from 1961-64 and 1974-77. The earlier years were pre-Green Revolution, whereas in the later years new technology had been introduced in some parts of the country. Net sown area, value of total agricultural output, and number of male agricultural workers were the main variables. For the country as a whole, agricultural output grew by 1.2%/year during 1961-64 to 1974-77, while the number of male agricultural workers grew at 1.5%/year. The major source of agricultural growth during the 1960s was found to be increased land-yield associated with a higher ratio of labor to land. The findings imply that a more intensified pattern of land use, resulting in both higher yield and higher labor input/unit of land, is the main source of growth of output and employment in agriculture. There is very little scope for extending the arable area in Bangladesh; increased production must come from multiple cropping, especially through expansion of irrigation and drainage, and from increases in per acre yields, principly through adoption of high yield variants, which explained 87% of the variation in output per acre during the 1970s. Regional variation in output was also associated with variation in cropping intensity and proportion of land given to high yield variants. There is considerable room for modernizing agricultural technology in Bangladesh: in 1975-76 less than 9% of total crop land was irrigated and only 12% of total acreage was under high yield variants. The adoption of new food-grain technology and increased use of high yield variants in Bangladesh's predominantly subsistence-based agriculture would require far-reaching institutional and organizational changes and more capital. Without effective population control, expansion of area under high yield variants would not improve the employment situation in the foreseeable future.     

Multi-scale assessment of the livestock sector for policy design in Zambia

While livestock constitute a strategic sector to reduce poverty and enhance growth in developing countries, decision makers often lack data reflecting the diversity of livestock functions and systems. We therefore mobilised the Livestock Sector Investment Policy Toolkit to assess the economic contributions of livestock in Zambia. Valuing their plural contributions by system, we found that mixed rainfed systems were the main contributors to added value, even if specialised intensive systems provided around 45% of meat and milk production. Demand-oriented policies promoting intensive systems would not have the same effects on economic growth as growth-oriented policies focusing on smallholder mixed farming.     

Microfinance Participation and Women's Decision-Making Power in the Household in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

This study draws from bargaining theory to examine whether microfinance, a range of financial instruments such as micro-loans to support micro-enterprises, affects women's participation in household decision-making operationalized by whether women play a role in household decisions about large purchases, small purchases, going out to meet friends and family, and health care among a nationally representative sample of 6,150 women between the ages of 15 and 49 years in Bangladesh. Bargaining theory suggests that decision-making in households is conflictual but conflict can be mitigated through bargaining. Central to bargaining power of women is control over resources, assuming that household decision-making involves making economic decisions. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the interaction effect of microfinance and control over resources on decision-making power in the household utilizing the nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011. Results revealed that microfinance participants with control over resources reported higher odds of decision-making power (OR = 4.3, p < 0.05) when compared to microfinance participants without control over resources (OR = 1.22, p < 0.05) but less than women who did not participate in microfinance but had control over resources (OR = 5.2; p < 0.05). In conclusion, control over resources play an important role in bargaining that increases odds of having decision-making power in the household, even for women who do not participate in microfinance. The study findings contribute to both social work practice and research on low-income populations as it allows an understanding of the importance financial access and financial know-how while it sheds light on how precarious women's lives can be as they navigate income-generating financial systems that interfere with gender norms, which may have negative consequences. These findings are particularly important for practitioners working in the area of women's empowerment who would do well to emphasize the need for building financial capability so that women are able to garner control over their own and familial resources, whether or not they participate in empowerment programs like microfinance, which in turn gives women voice and agency. Meanwhile, future researchers are well positioned to examine the kinds of specific skills that best predict increases in women's decision-making power in the household as well how gender dynamics play into the decision-making process.     

Household assets and health in China: evidence and policy implications

China's health care reform of the 1990s has not yielded much success. The market‐oriented health system has resulted in declines in fairness of health services and efficiency of investment in the health sector. Further health care reform will be required. Among many options, asset‐based policy has demonstrated some potential in domestic policy development. To provide evidence to inform health policy development in China, this study focuses on the effects of household assets on health in China. Specifically, the current study examines how household assets may affect health status and how assets differ from income in predicting health status. Using a random sample of Chinese elderly, we find that asset holding in the form of household durables and household utilities has both direct and indirect effects on health status. Household assets directly affect access to medical care and indirectly affect health by influencing health behaviour and psychological condition. In other words, in addition to economic effects, household assets appear to have behavioural and psychological effects on health. Interestingly, these effects appear to be associated with assets, but not with income. Implications for asset building policy are suggested as a complement to existing health care models.

中国自20世纪90年代开始的卫生保健改革还没有取得很大成功。市场主导的医疗系统使卫生部门提供的健康服务无论在公平性和效率都有所下降。进一步的医疗保健改革是需要的。在众多的选择当中,以资产为基础的政策已显示出一定的潜力。为向中国的卫生政策发展提供证据,这项研究的重点是家庭资产在中国对健康的影响。具体来说,目前的研究探讨家庭资产如何影响健康状况,以及资产如何不同于收入来预测健康状况。作者用随机抽样的方法研究中国的老年人,发现家庭耐用消费品和家庭水电费都直接和间接影响健康状况。家庭资产直接影响到能否获得医疗照顾和间接影响有关影响健康的行为和心理状态。换言之,除了经济影响,家庭资产似乎对行为和心理健康有所影响。有趣的是,这些影响似乎是与资产相关,而并非收入。作者建议以资产建设政策补充现有的医疗保健模式。     

Sex Differences in Household Involvement of the Unmarried

It has been posited that sex-role differentiation decreases and unisex patterns emerge in late life. Most research on household activities in old age, however, has studied couples. This study examines sex differences in household activities and sources of help of older, unmarried men and women; the relationship between household involvement and psychological well-being; and personal characteristics associated with household activities. Data were obtained from interviews with 341 men and women. Males and females without spouses managed their household roles somewhat differently both in the tasks they performed and sources from which they accepted help. Relationships between household involvement and well-being were positive for both sexes. But the gender-linked nature of household work persists inro very late life and is not eliminated by the absence of a spouse. Continued sex differentiation in tasks in later life has implications for the provision of formal and informal sources of help for the unmarried aged.     

法律技术与户籍制度困局

我国和户籍制度有关的问题是一团乱麻,解决这些问题需要以最大的耐心注意法律的技术。本文提出了对上书全国人大请求对《户口条例》进行违宪审查这种解决方式的疑问;通过现实中的一些具体事例的分析,说明户籍制度所涉及问题在中国的复杂性和法律技术的重要,表明笼统地谈论废除户籍制度无法实际上减轻弊端,甚至有适得其反的后果;讨论了基于居民和非居民身份的区别待遇、以居民身份或定居期限为享有某些权利前提条件问题的美国案例,也在于说明类似问题在美国的复杂性和法律技术的必要,强调在具体案件中发展精致的法律概念和运用区别与分类管理的技术;总结了怎样逐步消除户籍制度的僵硬性和弊端。     

清代北京文人官僚的居家观念与时尚

北京一向以文人官僚为城市居民的主体。城居者在构筑居家样态和风貌的同时 ,也会展现出社会观念、价值标准以及文化时尚。清代文人官僚的居家观念与时尚 ,表现在对营建房屋的物质投入与精神投入上 ,以奢靡化为主要特征 ;房屋的建筑格局与居家方式 ,处处为礼法制度及其观念所约束 ;园第合一的建筑格局已为包括满族在内的士人官僚所倡导。值得注意的是 ,人们在造屋时所严格遵循的儒家礼法 ,却很少影响到园林的构筑。这似乎可以说是在封建政治程序化链条上出现的不规范的一节。     

加快农业产业化发展是优化农业结构和增加农民收入的现实选择--双城市农业产业化发展情况的调查

农民收入增长缓慢是农村工作面临最突出的矛盾和问题 ,实现农民增收是当前和今后农村工作的中心任务。通过农业产业化发展的实现 ,促进农村产业化经营和农民增收 ,是农村经济发展的现实选择。黑龙江省双城市的具体做法取得了很好的经验。农业产业化发展是优化农业结构和增加农民收入的现实选择。。     

Nurtured from Above and Growing from the Roots: Social Investment Funds and Decentralization in Zambia and Malawi

Social investment funds aim at the provision of social infrastructure through community involvement and participatory procedures. This paper focuses on two specific social investment funds, those in Zambia and Malawi. Both have a strong commitment to participation by the community, signified particularly in direct disbursement to those communities. They aim to work through the field units of government administration in a decentralized manner instead of creating parallel structures. The Zambian social fund has decentralized its procedures to a considerable degree, and it is a role model in this respect. The Malawian social fund is not such a powerful catalyst for organizational change, as it is confronted with much stronger residues of authoritarianism. Nevertheless, like the Zambian fund, it is an effective and cheap mechanism for delivery of social infrastructure. Both social investment funds are resisting merger, with comprehensive decentralization programmes aiming to bring the district administration under an elected local authority that Zambia and Malawi have both initiated. This paper argues that this resistance is rational. It pleads for an organic growth of decentralization instead of legislating it into existence. The experience of these social investment funds show that it is more fruitful to graft the decentralized procedures of social funds on to existing institutions than to embark on comprehensive decentralization programmes.     

On the Division of Household Responsibilities in the Family

One of the main purposes of the study carried out in 1981 in the city of Krasnodar by the Section on the Family of the Institute of Sociological Research of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was to determine the nature of the relationship between employment and household duties and the main reasons why these two important spheres of human activity are frequently in conflict with each other.¹     

北京市家庭户的变化及外来人口影响

根据第五次人口普查数据 ,北京市的集体户人口比例已高达 12 % ,并且在家庭人口中外来人口比例也从 1990年的 2 %急剧提高到近 12 % ,这些重大变化在对北京市人口老龄化和家庭户变迁的学术研究和政策制定时均已不可忽视。本文计算了不同口径的北京市人口老龄化水平 ,还揭示出近年来北京市家庭户规模的大幅下降的主要原因仍是少儿比例的不断降低。本文还从年龄别、户主率和户居类型比例两个角度揭示了家庭结构变化和家庭养老功能 ,并且特别比较和分析了本市户籍人口和外来人口之间的差异     

Intra‐Household Specialization in Housework in the United States and Denmark*

Objective. Focusing on housework activities, we hypothesize that the degree of specialization is influenced by economic notions of efficiency, as well as by time constraints and egalitarian values. Methods. Employing time‐use data on U.S. and Danish couples, we construct a composite index measure of intra‐household specialization. We analyze the comparability of reported time use and our specialization index using different types of data, and then model specialization using a multivariate two‐limit Tobit. Results. We find evidence that Danish households specialize less than U.S. households and that children, particularly preschool‐aged children, are associated with significantly increased specialization in the United States but not in Denmark. Conclusions. We postulate that the more egalitarian social structure in Scandinavia is a driving force behind the lower rate of specialization observed in Denmark. Further, we believe the subsidized child‐care services provided by the Danish welfare system reduce the impact children have on specialization in ordinary housework tasks.     

北京城乡居民消费60年变迁

新中国成立以来,特别是改革开放以来,北京城乡居民的生活水平提高很快,居民消费从温饱不足走向富裕,发生了翻天覆地的变化。城镇居民消费从勉强温饱走向了富裕,消费结构从低水平均衡变得更加优化;农村居民则从温饱不足向富裕迈进,消费结构从衣食为主转变为均衡发展。     

Individual and Household Values of Mortality Reductions with Intrahousehold Bargaining

I derive alternative measures of maximum willingness to pay (WTP) and value of statistical life (VSL) for selfish members of two-person households who bargain efficiently over consumption of individual and household goods. There is then no systematic bias in letting one member conduct the valuation on behalf of the household. Public-good VSL may exceed private-good VSL when each member attaches (selfish) preferences to survival of the spouse, and to any income from a surviving spouse in period 2. When period 2 is a retirement period and household members’ incomes are fixed, interview surveys tend to overvalue VSL due to ignored negative effects of own survival on private of public pension budgets.JEL Classification: I12, G22, J17     

Household solid fuel use in the Philippines: an exploratory spatial and social analysis

Over two billion people use solid fuels for basic needs such as cooking, with consequences for the environment, human health, and social and economic development. In the Philippines, 65% of households use solid fuels for cooking. To better understand this phenomenon, this study uses spatial analysis and multilevel modeling to answer: (1) Are there spatial differences in solid fuel use for cooking in the Philippines? (2) What social characteristics are associated with such use? The study finds that both types of characteristics are significantly related to solid fuel use. Implications for social work policy, practice, and research are discussed.