Study On Changes Of Rural Land System From Farmers' Cognition In China

Institutional cognition theory and institutional behavior theory point out that institution has deep cognition intension and agents'cognition has important effects on institutional changes, then it can push on institution to change. In natural, institutional changes can be known as a mutual adjustment process between agents'cognition and outside environment, or as a mutual adjustment process among different agents'cognition. There have some likeness in a certain degree between mutual adjustment of agents'cognition and institutional changes.Through deeply analyzing the mechanism that agents'cognition impact on institutional changes, it can be found that agents'cognition is a main part of institutional environment, it plays an important role in institutional structure forming, it has important effects on institutional performance, so agents'cognition directly push on institution to change. Institutional environment contains outside environment and agents'cognition. There is a relation of continually mutual adjustment between outside environment and agents' cognition. Outside environment is the basis of agents'cognition and agents'cognition has effect on outside environment. Meanwhile, there is a relation of continually mutual adjustment among different agents'cognition. One agents'cognition can effect on another agents'cognition. In the process continually mutual adjustment, two shapes of transaction cost may be made. One is the transaction cost because of outside environment uncertainty, another is the transaction cost because of agent limited rationality. Thus they make up total transaction cost in institutional environment. In order to trade successfully, agents need regulations to reduce transaction costs. The regulations are institutions. Different regulations make up a system which is institutional structure. Institutional structure includes formal and informal institutions. Formal and informal institutions are both formed by conscious agents'actions, and agents'cognition has important stipulation in specific contest. Institutional structure can produce some institutional performance. Because of respecting agents'desire and adapting to outside environment, rational institutional structure can certainly produce good institutional performance. In contrary, non-rational institutional structure may make negative institutional performance. Only being known by agents concerned, institutional performance can make agent to act and to innovate institutions. It means that agents'cognition may directly decide institutional performance through effect the rationality of institutional structure. On the same time, agents'cognition can subjectively evaluate institutional performance. Institutional structure and performance have feedback on agents'cognitions and outside environment. Rational institutional structure and good institutional performance can strengthen agents'cognition and improve outside environment. In contrary, non-rational institutional structure and negative institutional performance may weaken agents'cognition and worsen outside environment. If outside environment and agents'cognition change, institutional environment may change and potential profits are produced. Agent may evaluate the potential profits and compare it with costs on the basis of cognition oneself. If the potential profits are more than costs, agent may create new institutions. Agents'cognitions can directly push on institutions to change. On the basis of theoretical analyses above, this paper will make a model on institutional change embedded into agents'cognitions and regard it as a normal analytical framework.Then this paper will specify the model and use it to deeply analyze the changes of rural land system in China from farmers'cognition. The farmer is one of the main parties of rural land system in China. The farmers'cognition directly decides their attitude to rural land system. The farmers'decisions and actions depend on their cognition in big degree. The farmers'cognition is the basis of governments'cognition. Agents'cognition including farmers and outside environment make up farmland system environment in China. There are two mutual relations in it. One is the mutual relation between agents'cognition including farmers and outside environment. One is the mutual relation among different agents'cognition. A specific farmland system environment can form a specific farmland system structure mainly including formal and informal institutions. A specific farmland system structure can produce some farmland system performance. Farmland system structure and performance can take feedback on agents'cognition and outside environment, causing Chinese farmland system environment to change. When Chinese farmland system environment changes potential profits may be made. In order to getting the potential profits agents including peasant will innovate farmland system and push it to change. So in the process of Chinese farmland system change, the farmers'cognition gives very important roles to it. Firstly, farmers'cognition is a main part of Chinese farmland system environment. Secondly, there is a continually mutual adjustment relation between farmers' cognition and farmland system structure. Thirdly, there is a continually mutual adjustment relation between farmers'cognition and farmland system performance. Finally, farmers' cognition directly pushes on Chinese farmland system to change. Above all, farmers' cognition is through all the process of Chinese farmland system change. It is necessary to study on Chinese farmland system change from farmers'cognition. Thus this paper can deeply give the farmers'cognition content and reveal the nature of Chinese farmland system change.New Chinese land reform which took farmers land ownership esteemed farmers'wants and adapted to outside environment. So it took good institutional performance and farmland system change was effective. In the period of primary cooperatives, the farmland system environment changed. Farmers want to resolve actual problems by voluntary cooperative on the basis of land private ownership. The central government positively responded farmers'rational wants. Chinese farmland system structure esteemed farmers'wants and adapted to the change of outside environment. So it took good institutional performance and farmland system change was effective. The central government sponsored the movement of higher cooperatives in line with its cognition on outside environment. In the period of higher cooperatives, Chinese farmland system structure was collective land ownership and collective management. It went against farmers'wants and brook away from outside environment. So it took negative institutional performance and farmland system change was invalid. The central government sponsored the movement of People's Commune System in line with its cognition on outside environment. In the period of People's Commune System, Chinese farmland system structure was collective land ownership and collective management. It went against farmers'wants and brook away from outside environment. So it took negative institutional performance and farmland system changing was invalid. The household responsibility system was firstly invented by farmers themselves. Chinese farmers spontaneously set up the household responsibility system. The farmland system structure was collective ownership and household management. It esteemed farmers'wants and adapted to the level of social and economic development. So it took great institutional performance. Following Chinese social and economic development, Chinese farmland system environment and farmers'cognition are changing step by step. The function of rural land is slowly changing. These become the motives of Chinese farmland system change. Chinese farmland system reform is on the way of constantly improving the household responsibility system. The reform constantly gives farmers more and clear rural land rights. Obviously the setting and improving of household responsibility system esteems farmers'wants and adapts to outside environment. So it takes good institutional performance and farmland system change is effective.The paper can find that farmers'cognition is very important to Chinese farmland system reform at present through deeply analysis on actual cases. The farmers themselves firstly sponsor rural land joint-stock cooperative system at Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. Because of realizing potential profits causing by outside environment changed, the farmers at Yangzhou innovated their farmland system. In the process of innovation, they voluntarily chose rural land joint-stock cooperative system on the basis of their right cognition on outside environment, and they improved the system in line with actual condition. The rural land joint-stock cooperative system makes good performance which encourages the farmers to continually reform. The good performance also effects on local governments'cognition and makes them to support farmers'reform. So farmers'cognition is very important to the rural land system reform at Yangzhou in Jiangsu province. The rural-urban integration land system reform at Chengdu in Sichuan province was made in special institutional environment. Farmers'wants was the main part of it. Farmers'spontaneous power and governments'conscious power altogether pushes on the reform. The rural-urban integration land system reform takes good performance because it esteems farmers'wants and adapts to outside environment. Rational rural land system structure and good performance can strengthen agents'cognition and improve outside environment. Thus it pushes on the reform going on. So farmers'cognition directly pushes on the rural-urban integration land system reform at Chengdu in Sichuan province.The paper can make some conclusions. In nature, Chinese farmland system change is the process in which farmers'and governments'cognition adjusts each other to adapt to outside environment. Farmers'cognition has very important roles in it. The whole efficiency of Chinese farmland system depends on if it can esteem farmers'wants. Farmers' cognition effectively pushes on Chinese farmland system to change. Chinese farmland system changes make farmers'cognition. On the basis of study, the paper gives some policy advices. We must think highly of farmers'cognition and wants in the process of Chinese farmland system reform. The reform must adapt to the changes of institutional environment including farmers'cognition. Institutional efficiency can be raised by reducing transaction. We must take different reform models to meet farmers'special wants in different regions.