11 pages, via online journal, Land fragmentation is an interesting physical character in some developing countries, especially China. This study aims to discover the direct and mediated effects of land fragmentation on collective action in China based on an empirical test and the social-ecological system framework. We introduce three innovations to the literature on collective action in the commons. First, we focus on the mechanism of land fragmentation on collective action in the commons, which has been largely ignored in the literature. Second, building on the social-ecological system framework, we use structural equation modeling, which is robust to endogeneity and latent variable problems. Third, we use original survey data from 3895 households and 284 villages from 17 provinces/regions in China, a critical case because China has some of the most fragmented farmland use in the world. We find that land fragmentation has a direct negative effect on irrigation collective action. And besides the direct negative effect, there are four indirect factors: dependency on farming, irrigation rule-making, economic pressure and land circulation. Of these, the first three have a negative effect, and the last one, a positive effect. Our findings add to the theoretical literature on collective action in the commons and suggest new policy handles for more efficient land and labor markets in China.
9 pages, via online journal, The overall willingness of smallholder farmers to adopt new green technologies remains low, in spite of the great progress made in understanding the factors that affect their decision. The present study introduces an interdisciplinary approach combining positive psychology and sustainable development studies to show that two personal resources – self-control (a learned repertoire of goal-directed skills that enable people to act upon their aims) and cognitive goal-oriented hope (the ability to follow different routes to pursue one's goal), prompt the adoption of technologies by smallholder farmers. Both personal resources facilitate achieving future goals and changing existing circumstances. A theoretical moderation model on the adoption of agricultural technologies aimed to protect soil degradation in Nepal is proposed and empirically tested. Data were collected from 268 households in the Jhapa district by a face-to-face questionnaire. A multiple regression analysis tested and confirmed the hypothesized moderation model. Following the discovery of a significant interaction, the nature of the interaction was farther explored by calculating simple slopes. Analysis results show a significant positive connection between self-control (p-value = 0.002), hope (p-value = 0.005), information (p-value < 0.001), and technology adoption. Self-control was also found to have a significant moderating effect in enhancing a positive association between receiving information and technology adoption (p-value = 0.017). In addition to its theoretical innovation and empirical contribution, the importance of this study lies in its practical implications, given that policy, education, and communication may influence hope and self-control levels.
13 pages, via online journal, Social and economic development in rural area is one of the main concerns for Indonesia Government. Despite the importance of village owned enterprises in improving rural economy, evidences regarding the impacts of village fund and village owned enterprise (BUM Desa) in developing countries were still limited. This study presents that evidence from more than one thousand villages in Indonesia. It employs two different estimation strategies: first difference, and difference-in-difference methodologies adapted for continuous treatment. The results show that village fund is more likely to increase number of village-owned enterprise with similar trend between java and non-java region. However, rapid increase of village-owned-enterprises were not followed by large utilization. We do not evidence that BUM Desa provides more opportunity for villager to work.
10 pages, via online journal, Under China's “Western Development” plan, inland China has witnessed massive urban expansion and land development, but little is known about the consequent stratification among relocated communities. This study examines the urbanization process on the outskirts of the Municipality of Yinchuan in northwestern China. Previous studies have focused on how urbanization impoverished or enriched rural communities, while this study examines how relocated communities (or teams) were differentiated in their compensation and relocation outcomes, as a combined outcome of policies and resource structures. Quantitative evidence suggests that urbanization has led to both between-team and within-team variations, and qualitative analyses illustrate why even the “lucky” teams always had “unlucky” villagers in compensation outcomes. Between-team variations were often used to mobilize collective resistance to strive for better compensation, but the rise of within-team variations has undermined the grassroots alliance against “unfair” policies. Villagers were more obsessed with individual competition of property investment based on their wealth and self-financing capabilities, but they also complained about “unjust” competition, such as the appropriation of resources based on cadres' privileges and connections. Although individual competition was celebrated under the official neoliberal market-oriented narratives, the decline of collective patronage and the resentment toward cadres' rent-seeking behaviors have added to tensions within relocated communities and contributed to their fragmentation.
