Minimizing Harm in Agricultural Animal Experiments in New Zealand

Intrusive agricultural experimentspublished in New Zealand in the last five yearsare reviewed in terms of the degree of animalsuffering involved, and the necessity for thissuffering in relation to research findings.When measured against animal welfare criteriaof the Ministry of Agriculture, thirty-sixstudies inflicted ``severe' or ``very severe'suffering. Many of these experiments hadquestionable short-term applications, had anapplication restricted to agriculturalproduction or economic growth, or could havebeen modified to prevent or reduce suffering.     

An Assessment of the Valuation Methods Used to Calculate the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and Sustainable Net Benefit Index (SNBI)

For some time now, ecological economists have been putting forward a ‘threshold hypothesis’ – the notion that when macroeconomic systems expand beyond a certain size, the additional cost of growth exceeds the flow of additional benefits. In order to support their belief, ecological economists have developed a number of similar indexes to measure and compare the benefits and costs of growth (e.g., the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare and the Genuine Progress Indicator). In virtually every instance where an index of this type has been calculated for a particular country, the movement of the index appears to reinforce the existence of the threshold hypothesis. Of late, a number of observers have expressed concerns about whether these alternative indexes reflect concrete reality or the prejudices of ecological economists. In view of these concerns, this paper closely examines the valuation methods used in the calculation the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, the Genuine Progress Indicator, and the Sustainable Net Benefit Index. It is argued that a consistent and more robust set of valuation techniques is required in order for these alternative indexes to gain broad acceptability.*Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Ethological farm programs and the “market” for animal welfare

Ethological farm programs as they exist in Switzerland are compared with environmental farm programs in respect of demand and supply. Because animal welfare is not a public good but rather a relation that causes psychological externalities, the demand for animal welfare has a different standing in economic theory than the demand for a clean environment. The supply of animal welfare by farmers, however, largely follows the patterns known from the delivery of environmental goods. Farm size, age and education, and also family size and capital intensity are influencing variables. The paper concludes that the design of ethological farm programs should be based on broad public discussions as described by deliberation theorists rather than willingness-to-pay studies.     

重构煤炭主体专业教育的公益性

从煤炭主体专业教育具有的公益性属性分析入手,指出煤炭主体专业的办学经费日紧和煤炭主体专业边缘化与去煤化,公益性日渐式微。建议从国家、高校、企业、个人家庭等各个层次全方位重构煤炭主体专业教育的公益性,加强国家利益至上,强化政府主渠道作用,在政策与教育投入要向其倾斜,优先发展与保障煤炭主体专业的教育,制定相关法规确保煤炭专业生源与人才培养质量,并在该领域就业。国家、企业、高校与个人家庭利益相关者都应在制度上强化各自应有的责任,从而形成一个多层次全方位良性互动发展的培养与吸纳人才的机制,确保煤炭主体专业教育的公益性,促进煤炭主体专业健康发展,满足安全生产的人才需求的供给,从而为煤炭安全生产提供重要保障。     

基于农村信用体系建设的涉农经济组织和农户信用提升研究

我国涉农经济组织和农户的信用存在一些难以规避的缺陷,导致农业贷款难的困境。本文从涉农经济组织和农户信用道德建设,信用制度与法律建设,产权制度,信用环境,信用标准及信用等级评定,信用组织创新,征信和信用担保中介服务市场,农村信用管理等八个方面阐述了农村信用体系建设的基本思路,并讨论了涉农经济组织和农户的信用提升问题。     

Land management in rural Burkina Faso: the role of socio‐cultural and institutional factors

Farmers in the Sahel have been acknowledged for reclaiming degraded lands and improving food security by ingeniously modifying traditional agroforestry, water, and soil management practices. Despite the advantages offered by this range of farming techniques, their adoption rate is influenced by several factors. Using multivariate probit models and a correlation coefficient, this article examines the factors influencing the adoption of five land management practices based on 220 household and 40 farm surveys in four adjacent rural communities in southern Burkina Faso. The model results indicate that household labor force, education of household head, land tenure security, livestock holding, and membership in farmers’ groups influence the adoption of zaï practice, composting, improved fallow, stone bunds, and live hedges. However, two of the surveyed factors ‐ number of farms and visit by agricultural extension staff during the 12 months prior to the survey ‐ were not significant. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between different land management practices, e.g., the decision to practice zaï is significantly linked to that of live hedges and composting. Zaï practice and stone bunds are considered labor intensive, which explains their significant correlations with household labor force at the 1% and 5% levels of significance, respectively.     

基于农户意愿的矿区耕地损害补偿测度研究——以庞庄、垞城、柳新煤矿开采为例

矿产资源的开发利用,在支撑社会经济发展的同时却带来区域资源生态环境的破坏,尤其是矿区农户承担着较大的外部成本。论文以矿区耕地损害为研究对象,在调查农户认知和接受补偿意愿的基础上,通过构建计量模型,测算基于农户意愿下的补偿额度。结果表明:①调查结果显示,69.19%的农户因煤矿开采失去一部分耕地,49.19%的农户表示耕地质量降低,95.14%的农户认为居住环境遭到破坏,93.51%的农户认为采矿破坏了耕种文化传承;②实证结果表明,庞庄、垞城、柳新煤矿周边农户每年接受最低补偿分别为34 780.80、36 506.85和35 397.60元/hm²,其中经济损害受偿意愿分别为12 731.10、18 982.80、11 230.95元/(hm²·a),社会保障损害受偿意愿分别为11 782.35、10 777.95、12 765.00元/(hm²·a),生态损害受偿意愿分别为7 277.10、4 282.35、7 306.05元/(hm²·a),文化传承损害受偿意愿分别为2 990.25、2 463.75和4 095.6元/(hm²·a);③对比分析发现,当前政策下矿区耕地损害补偿额度一般在9 458.70~15 764.40元/(hm²·a)之间,明显低于基于农户意愿下的补偿额度,并且56.76%的农户表示不接受一次性补偿。以上结果能够为矿区生态补偿和政策创新提供决策依据和定量参考。     

养殖户气候适应性行为对提高养殖业生产效率的影响

气候变化给当前中国农业生产转型带来严峻挑战,从效率视角分析农户适应气候变化行为具有重要意义。本文探讨养殖户气候适应性行为与养殖业生产效率之间的逻辑关系,并基于中国五省的微观调查数据,采用倾向得分匹配方法与选择纠偏随机前沿生产函数模型（Selectivity-corrected Stochastic Production Frontier model）相结合的实证思路,分析养殖户气候适应性行为对养殖业生产效率的影响。研究表明：（1）养殖户气候适应性行为能够提高养殖业生产效率,纠正可观测因素与不可观测因素造成的选择性偏差后,适应组养殖户平均养殖业生产效率为0.618,未适应组养殖户的平均养殖业生产效率为0.551。（2）若未考虑选择性偏差,养殖户适应性行为对养殖业生产效率的影响将会错估。研究成果可为推进政府制定农户适应气候变化政策与推动农业生产转型提供有力支持。     

Is Current Consumption Excessive? A General Framework and Some Indications for the United States

Abstract:  Many prior studies have explored the implications of human population growth and environmentally problematic technologies for biodiversity loss and other forms of environmental degradation. Relatively few, however, have examined the impacts of the level and composition of consumption. We offer a framework that shows how the level and composition of a society's total consumption relate to the uses of various forms of capital and to the sustainability of natural resources and human well-being. We relate the framework to two main approaches—top–down macro studies and bottom–up computer models—for measuring whether overall consumption in the United States satisfies a sustainability requirement. Existing top–down studies have shortcomings that bias their results toward optimism, and current computer simulation models, although strong on revealing biophysical outcomes, are limited in their ability to evaluate impacts on human well-being. Although some ambiguities arise in determining whether overall consumption in the United States is excessive, our conclusions regarding the composition of U.S. consumption are unambiguous. Distorted consumption patterns and associated production methods lead to excessively rapid natural resource depletion; greater conservation would yield gains to current and future generations that more than compensate for the sacrifices involved. Public policies that deal with the composition problem not only would help conserve natural resources and improve current welfare but also would reduce the costs of meeting the goal of sustainability.     

湖北鄂州和仙桃两地农民集中居住前后福利测度与变化的实证研究

在阿马蒂亚森的可行能力框架理论下构建农民福利评价指标体系,以湖北鄂州和仙桃两地为例,运用模糊评价法测算农民集中居住前后的福利变化。结果表明,农民集中居住后福利水平有所下降,鄂州和仙桃农户福利水平模糊评价值分别由0.455和0.442下降到0.373和0.366;从功能性活动看,农户的社会资源、住房条件和居住环境均有改善,但家庭经济状况、权益保障和心理情感则有不同程度恶化,其中家庭经济状况和权益保障这2项功能的福利水平变化最大,是造成农民集中居住后农民福利水平下降的主要原因。从转换因素看,农民受教育程度、被抚养人口比例和地区差异对农民集中居住前后福利变化均有影响。