A Study On The Institutional Innovation Of Rural Sustainable Development In Resource-based Region

There exist many economic, ecological, and social problems of rural sustainable development inresource-based regions, because mining exploitation has great influence on transfer of rural labor,the development of agriculture, and increasing the income of peasants, and because the negativeeffects of mining exploitation on eco-environment injure peasants' benefits and the contest ofresource revenue put mining enterprises in constant conflicts with peasants. All the problems,typically represented as the problems of "three rural issues" and "four mining issues", the toughestissues to be solved in the China's economic development, intertwine with each other during theresource-based region's industrialization process. To solve all the problems is of great significanceto the economic transition and rural development in resource-based regions.The study on whether economy in resource-based regions can develop sustainably becomes ahot potato in development economics and regional economics in both home and abroad. Theprevious studies mainly focus on testing and interpreting "resource curse", eco-environmentalcompensation, etc. However, fewer studies concentrate on the rural sustainable development inresource-based regions. The present study tries to make contribution to this subject. Combiningtheories with concrete examples, adopting the methods of contrastive analysis, case studies, andeconometrics, and basing on previous studies, the present study first analyzes the mechanism ofhow the rural sustainable problems in resource-based regions came into being and their solutions,and then introduces the experience and lessons given by the resource-based regions in foreigncountries. The dissertation mainly analyzes the problems emerged in some parts of Shanxi province,National Resources Based Economic Transformation Synthetically Reform Testing District,summarizes the typical patterns emerged from the reforms in Shanxi province, and provides somesuggestions for rural sustainable development in resource-based regions.The main conclusions of the study are as follow:1. The theoretical study demonstrates thatresource-based economy triggered rural economic problems, the externality in mining leads to ruraleco-environmental problems, and the social problems are caused by the rural economic andeco-environmental problems. Only through institutional innovation can we better develop ruraleconomy and renovate eco-environment in resource-based regions, and achieve rural inclusive growth in resource-based regions.2. The empirical study of Shanxi province shows the dilemma ofrural sustainable development. Rural economic problems include that coal mining leads to theslowing down of rural labor transfer, and crowds out agricultural development in Shanxi province,and also exerts great influence on Shanxi peasants' income. Rural eco-environmental problemsshow the negative effect on eco-environment resulting from coal mining, which has great impact onpeasants' life. The widening income gap and the conflict between villages and mining enterpriseshave already become serious social problems facing rural Shanxi areas.3. The institutionalinnovation and the typical rural sustainable development patterns are summarized in Shanxi. Ruralsustainable development is affected by the institutional innovation, including the integration of coalresource, the acquisition of coal resource for value, and the transitional development policies. Thestudy uses two areas, Xiangning and Pingshuo, as typical examples for analysis, which has greatimplication for perfecting the policy "coal industry re-feeding agriculture". Xiangning patternpromotes the supply of rural public goods and modernization of agriculture, Pingshuo pattern buildspolycentric cooperative governance model to govern eco-environmental problems.4. The studysuggests to promote inclusive growth in Shanxi by solving rural economic and eco-environmentalproblems. Solving rural economic problems need to make better use of coal revenue, promoteindustrial diversity and urbanization, improve peasants' ability to participate in economic activities,perfect social welfare system in rural areas and protect peasants' benefits in rural collectiveeconomy. Solving rural eco-environmental problems in resource-based regions needs to establish asystem of eco-environmental governance which involves peasants' participating in, monitoring andjudging. A special committee should be set up to organize eco-environmental governance activitiesand resource-based companies should take charge of the governance.The innovations of this study include:1. The inclusive growth is one of the frontiers ofdevelopment economics. It applies inclusive growth theory to solving the rural sustainabledevelopment problems. Especially, in order to solving the rural eco-environmental problems inresource-based regions, the paper proposed to build polycentric cooperative governance modelwhich involves peasants' participating in.2. The existing studies of Shanxi are about the test of"resource curse", but few studies of the rural sustainable development with the effect of coal mining.The study tries to analyze the rural labor transfer, agricultural development, and peasant's incomewith the effect of coal mining. It is the empirical innovation of the study.3."Coal industry re-feeding agriculture" policies have acquired some achievement in Shanxi. The studycharacteristically analyzes the Xiangning pattern and Pingshuo pattern with case study. Xiangningpattern interprets the mechanism of formation and enforcement of "a coal, a non-coal industry and apublic welfare" policy; Pingshuo pattern analyzes the institutional innovation and the governancemechanism in solving rural eco-environmental problems.