| Traditional agricultural plain area refers to the inland plain area where there is a lack of minable natural resources, an exceedingly high proportion of agricultural economy and low levels of industrial structure, a large population but the backward mode of thinking and"petty farm consciousness"and a relatively slow economic development. Its spacial sphere roughly includes the area from the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain in the North to Tongbai Mountain in the South, from the coastal area along Bo Sea and Yellow Sea in the East to the western foot of Taihang Mountain and Funiu Mountain.Traditional agricultural plain area is located in the center of China, with 260 administrative counties (cities) of five provinces such as Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong. Its total acreage is 308340 square kilometer, occupying nearly 1/3 of the total national plain area, with a population of 189.1607 million, occupying nearly 1/6 of the total national population, of which the population in countryside is 163.1902 million, occupying nearly 1/4 of the total national countryside population. The land is vast and flat which is favorable for agricultural cultivation. However, due to its inland location, the radiation from the oversea and coastal metropolis can hardly reach this area. Because of its lack of exploitable mineral resources and the unsubstantial non-agricultural industry, agriculture is still the primary economic activity in such places. With the constraint of backward mode of thinking and the predominant narrow-minded peasant consciousness, most counties and cities in this inland agricultural plain area are still confined in the strange saying:"the major producer of grain, the minor area of industry, the poor place of finance."Gradually, it becomes the underdeveloped area in China. In the crucial historical period of institutional transformation in China, if the mode of social and economic development in this area is still defined as"the important agricultural counties, the primary base of trade grain", then it will be impossible for the nearly 200 million population in this area to throw away the fetters of traditional agricultural economy. Furthermore, it will become a great burden and constraint to the realization of the overall economic rush in China in the near future. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to study and find an effective way to the industrialization of traditional agricultural plain area, so as to make it change from traditional society to modern industrial society.Considering the relatively backward economic index, people can not help wondering about the following question: why the economic development of the traditional agricultural plain area falls behind the national average level and has such a big gap with that of the Changjiang River Delta, now that the market development and economic growth happened in the same big background of the national system transformation and institutional change? Then, there will emerge a more profound question. That is, why there is different economic growth and economic performance in different areas, since the changes of institution, system and policy environment are the same and happened in the same country?North, the important contributor to the theory of institutional change constructs the institutional change theory with the focus on man's cognition mode by way of modifying the assumed precondition of neo-classical economics after the 1990s. After studying the shared mental model, he regards the institutional change as a part of the knowledge accumulation and cognition process of human being. Viewed from the external condition, institution is the shared guide line and criterion for man's behavior. Viewed from the internal situation, institution is the shared mental model or shared solution to the emerging social problems. Institution facilitates order and order emerges from the individual divergence of the mental model. Theses divergences are the origin of the continual evolvement and change of institution. North clearly points out that the informal institution is formed spontaneously, while the formal institution is forced on the community by the outside agency. North's latest study on the institutional change theory has great value in enlightening the startup of the institutional change and industrialization process in the traditional agricultural plain area. The institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area can be understood as the change from the traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society. By way of the establishment, development and perfection of market system and the performance of industrialization, the proportion of the agricultural income and the countryside population will be gradually lowered and the industry-centered non-agricultural sections will gradually increase. Then the economic structure will change from the simple, self-closed and self-cycling situation to the situation of large-scale production and exchange. People's ideology will also change from traditional cultivation culture to the concept of modern market economy. Therefore, taking the informal institution as the starting point in studying the institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area will not only benefit the overall understanding of its institutional change and thus enable people to know the original reason why its economic development is relatively slow, but will also be helpful for finding a more effective way to realize industrialization and economic development in traditional agricultural plain area.This dissertation considers that traditional agricultural plain area has neither the privilege of resources nor of location. Without the production requisites required for industrialization, institutional factors are the best starting points to change the informal regulations, then to finish the institutional changes of the informal regulations, the formal regulations and the actualizing mechanism of the two regulations, so as to smoothly start up the process of industrialization. Only when people in traditional agricultural plain area gradually accept the market concept corresponding to modern market economy can the change of informal regulations be realized and the formal regulations and their actualizing mechanism be set down correspondingly. And only in this way can this area finish its overall institutional change, start up its industrialization process, increase its economic performance and realize its economic growth. This dissertation consists of five chapters.The first chapter is Introduction. This dissertation points out that traditional agricultural plain area has its own features. In so far as the degree of economic development is concerned, this area can be obviously classified as underdeveloped area. In so far as the process of economic institutional transformation is concerned, this area belongs to traditional agricultural area. And considering its spacial characteristics, this area is the typical inland slow area. The diversity and complexity of the traditional agricultural plain area makes it more difficult to make theoretical studies and analyses and then to put forward corresponding strategic suggestions. Therefore, this study is of great theoretical significance to some extent. Lastly, after reviewing the status quo of the study on this kind of area both at home and abroad, this chapter states the original consideration and the logical structure of the whole dissertation, the method and strategy applied in it, the difficulties the author confronted, the significance and the innovation it produces.Chapter two is mainly about the definition of traditional agricultural plain area and the realistic significance of its industrialization. This dissertation clarifies the conception of traditional agricultural plain area and specifies the spacial location of the 260 counties and cities of the five provinces such as Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong in this area by way of GIS technique. Through metrological analysis, this dissertation asserts that traditional agricultural area refers to the inland plain area where there is a lack of minable natural resources, an exceedingly high proportion of agricultural economy and low levels of industrial structure, a large population but the backward mode of thinking and narrow-minded peasant consciousness and a relatively slow economic development. By analyzing the relation between industrialization and economic development, this dissertation claims that traditional agricultural plain area is not only an important step in the process of the national industrialization but also a difficult task. Therefore, the smooth startup of industrialization in traditional agricultural plain area assumes a great realistic significance in helping local governments to make its residents get rid of poverty, in accelerating the overall course of the present national industrialization and the institutional change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society.Chapter three sets up the analytical framework for the study of the institution change in traditional agricultural plain area. When it analyzes and illustrates North's theory on institutional change, it takes the concept, the origin and the change of institution as the central elements, and summarizes his latest achievement on institution change. It points out the possible enlightening function of North's theory to the institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area. The institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area can be understood as the change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society and the relation between institutional change and industrialization is in fact two sides of one coin. Industrialization is the important form and way of realizing the change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society. The process of industrialization in traditional agricultural plain area is also the process of the change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society in traditional agricultural area. Taking the informal institution as the starting point to study the institutional transformation in traditional agricultural plain area not only benefits the complete understanding of the institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area and thus makes clear of the root of its slow economic development, but is also helpful for finding out the more effective route to realize industrialization and a fast economic growth.Chapter four discusses the industrial route in traditional agricultural plain area with the informal institutional change as a thrust. By giving a definition to the informal institution and formal institution, this chapter explains the major features of the informal institution and points out the importance of the informal institutional change to the whole institutional change. In addition, by analyzing culture in the context of economics, this chapter considers that culture is the summation of various thoughts, beliefs and behavioral regulations, and the comprehensive reflection of the informal institution. However, the petty farm culture, that is so-called"petty farm consciousness"which is built upon the foundation of self-sufficient natural economy, is the collective reflection of the informal institution of the traditional agricultural society in traditional agricultural plain area. By developing the labor service economy, the negative effect of the petty farm consciousness among its residents can be eliminated and the production requisites to start up its industrialization can be collected.Chapter five is about the implement system of institutional change in the course of the industrialization in traditional agricultural plain area. This chapter analyzes the importance of the formal institutional change and the implement system of both formal and informal institutional change in traditional agricultural plain area. Then it thinks that the local governments should make corresponding formal regulations and the implement system according to the course of the informal institutional change. As a result, its industrialization can be started, economic performances increased and economy developed.Chapter six is a case study of the institution transformation and industrialization path in Gushi County in Henan Province. This chapter analyzes how Gushi County, the typically traditional agricultural plain area, successfully starts up its industrialization project and promotes its economic development by vigorously developing its labor services economy and the return program, and consequently gaining the required production essentials such as capital, technology and information, etc., though there are no requisites demanded for industrialization at first. This dissertation considers that the essence of the successful practice in Gushi is the institution change, that is, the change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society. Superficially, labor services economy is the redeployment of human resources in different areas, or the floating of population. However, it is fundamentally the fruit of the informal institution change. It is just the development of labor services economy in Gushi County that directly triggers the informal institution change which is the most important factor in the course of the change from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society. In return, the informal institution change effectively starts up the industrialization project there. Therefore, the case study of Gushi County fully exemplifies that it is of great significance to begin with the informal institution change for the institution transformation and industrialization in traditional agricultural plain area.Chapter seven makes a conlusion of the whole dissertation, and points out the main issues that need to be further studied.
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