Rural firm and household land survey 2010

This research agenda builds on economic theories that suggest that some types of contracts may lead to lower investment and lower levels of productivity. This research will provide valuable insight into how land market interactions among farmers and between farmers and agricultural firms affect rural economic growth. Household survey covers 2399 households in 21 provinces in China. Firm surveys cover 171 firms from 154 villages in 18 provinces.
<p>The research entails two projects that examine the impact of rural land rights on the decisions and outcomes of farmers in China. In the first project, the research team is interested in how giving farmers the leasing rights in a context where farmers previously only had use rights and could not legally engage in any market land transaction such as selling or renting could improve farmers’ outcomes. In the second project, they are interested in thinking about the determinants of the types and the terms of the contracts that farmers sign when allowing other farmers or agricultural firms to use their land. They will also analyse the impact of these contract choices on agricultural investment and productivity. This analysis makes use of a land reform that occurred in some areas of rural China where farmers were allowed to use their land as capital investment to enter into profit-sharing contracts with large-scale agricultural firms.

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本研究议程基于经济学理论，该类理论指出特定类型的合约可能会降低投资水平与生产力表现。本研究将深入剖析农户之间、农户与农业企业之间的土地市场互动如何影响农村经济增长，为相关领域提供极具价值的洞见。本次调研包含两部分：农户调查覆盖中国21个省份的2399户家庭；企业调查则覆盖18个省份154个村庄的171家农业企业。
本研究包含两项子课题，旨在探究中国农村土地权利对农户决策与生产结果的影响。在第一项子课题中，研究团队聚焦于：在农户此前仅拥有土地使用权、且无法合法开展土地售卖或租赁等市场交易的背景下，赋予农户土地租赁权将如何改善农户的生产经营成果。第二项子课题则聚焦于：当农户允许其他农户或农业企业使用其土地时，其所签订合约的类型与条款的决定因素有哪些。研究团队还将分析此类合约选择对农业投资与生产力的影响。本次分析将依托中国部分农村地区开展的土地改革实践——在该改革中，农户可将土地作为资本投入，与大型农业企业签订收益分成合约。