The System Of Agricultural Land And Agricultural Economic Organizations

This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part presents a model of property right and transaction cost, and derived the conclusion that if the transaction cost is zero, property right can be completely clarified, thus all varieties of farm contracts are equally efficient; if the transaction cost is positive, the farm contracts chosen will be different due to different fees of clarifying property right under different conditions and constraints. The second part of the dissertation discusses the relationship between property right and transaction cost within the agricultural economic organization in China's rural area from 1949 to 1999 as well as the relationship between property right and transaction cost among organizations. It also analyzes the choice and future evolution of agricultural institution and technology under the constraint of factor endowment or relative price.The first part consists of Chapter One and Chapter Two. Chapter One constructs a model of property right and transaction cost, under the hypothesis of which theoretical analyses are conducted in following chapters. It is in this sense that the first chapter is the general theory frame of other chapters. The author, for the convenience of study, distinguishes the concept of ownership from property right. Ownership, in this dissertation, refers to the property ascription in the legal sense, while property right refers to the right of actual use of the property, which includes the right for one to employ the property not belonging to oneself but under one's control, for example, lease. Property right also includes the claim of products and labor during the transaction. Therefore, two conclusions are reached. First, property right and its affiliated rights are dividable and tradable. Second, property right and its affiliated rights can be owned by different persons simultaneously. Property right is incarnated into three types: private property right, public property right and common property right. Property right is a private property right when it is tradable. Public property right is tradable, thus it has the nature of private property right.However, common property right is not tradable; therefore, its transfer value is zero. Property right is incomplete because its clarification and protection require cost. When the cost of clarifying and protecting property right is higher than the benefit, this part of property right is abandoned. The abandoned property right is common property right, and it is just for grasping the rent of this property right that brought forth various organizations. Common property right can be successfully grasped when organizations and firms are able to lower the cost of employing property right. As a result, the economic efficiency will be low under the organizations or common property right where choice right and competition are limited, this is an important conclusion of the dissertation.The dividable and transactional nature of property right and its sub-rights constitute various contract forms and the transaction cost decides which form to be chosen. The choice and performance of contracts will follow the law of choice and the law of performance separately, and the both laws point out the relationship between contract and transaction cost, and tell us that competition and free choice are the conditions of lowering transaction cost.Within the model of property right and transaction cost, Chapter Two analyzes efficiency and selection of various farm contracts theoretically. The four forms of farm contracts, yeoman, fixed rent contract, share contract and wage contract are equally efficient under the condition of zero transaction cost, which is proved in terms of theory and mathematics. Contract choice depends on the amount of transaction cost when transaction cost is positive. The change of transaction cost, depending on the nature of products and contracts, will affect the choice of contracts, which is already proved by the historical experience of China and the world.Including chapters...