A Study On Differential Contractual Behavior Of Farmers’ Farmland Transfer

The Chinese government has always attached importance to the construction of modern agriculture,and the moderate scale operation of agriculture is the only way for the development of modern agriculture.However,the institutional pattern of “collective ownership,equal land contracting,and family management” of rural land in China has led to the fragmentation of agricultural land and the occurrence of small-scale management,which has become a major problem affecting the development of modern agriculture in China.Only by implementing land transfer can we achieve relative concentration of land,expand the scale of agricultural operations,and promote the development of modern agriculture.With the deepening of China’s urbanization and industrialization process,the agricultural labor force has shifted to non-agricultural industries,and the agricultural land market circulation speed has been accelerating,but the situation of agricultural land concentration and scale management has not been formed.In the circulation of agricultural land,Chinese farmers have a strong tendency to “personalize” the choice of contracting objects.The trading scope is mainly limited to relatives and friends and acquaintances in the village,and the entry of other entities with operational ability is excluded.Oral agreement rather than a standardized written contract.The single main body of farmland transfer and poor contract stability have led to the reduction of investment by land tenants and the lack of long-term business plans.This is an important reason why the scale economy of China’s agricultural operations is difficult to improve.Therefore,this paper studies the issue of the contracting behavior of farmers transferring farmland.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)Agricultural land has many functions for farmers,such as production and employment,social security,and property.Under the background of a large number of non-agricultural transfer of agricultural surplus labor in China,due to the instability of non-agricultural employment,social security is not perfect,the level of protection is not high,agricultural income and income from employment are weak,and agricultural land still lives,medical care,and pension for farmers.It plays an important role in safeguarding,and its function of property income is beginning to emerge.(2)The decision-making function of the farmer when transferring out of the farmland is: the expected profit transferred from the farmland = the income from the farmland transfer-the transaction cost of the farmland transfer.Under the background of the contradiction between the human and the land and the limited land resources per capita,the peasants have a strong "love soil" mentality and "gratitude" complex.The decision-making basis for the transfer of agricultural land is survival ethics rather than economic rationality.Therefore,farmers do not completely pursue the profit maximization of farmland transfer,and they prefer the lowest transaction cost of farmland transfer relative to economic benefits.(3)The differential pattern describes the social relations based on the differential order in the rural society,which produces the differential behavior decision,and then the differential ordering of the social scarce resources.In a world where transaction costs exist,the strength of social relationships can greatly affect the nature of transactions.In rural areas of China,there is a strong relationship between relatives and neighbors,and the transaction cost of exchanges is the lowest;the non-neighbors in the same village are associated with acquaintances,and the transaction costs of exchanges are also lower,but higher than the transaction costs between relatives and neighbors;Individuals are a weakly related or unrelated relationship,and transaction costs are the highest.In order to minimize the transaction costs of farmland transfer,the transfer of farmland will adopt a differential ordering behavior according to the relationship between the social relations with different trading entities and the transaction costs: the choice of the transfer object is biased towards the relatives and neighbors.Acquaintances;the more familiar people are,the more they prefer to choose the informal contract of the oral class;the closer the relationship is,the lower the circulation rent.Based on the survey data of farmers in the nine provinces of 2015,the existence of the phenomenon of the difference in the degree of contracting of agricultural land transfer was confirmed from the statistical and factual levels.(4)Williamson believes that asset-specificity,transaction frequency and uncertainty affect the size of transaction costs.This analytical paradigm fits well with the behavioral assumptions of farmers’ bounded rationality and opportunism,and can be effectively applied to the micro-analysis of transactions.It is a more appropriate choice to use this theoretical paradigm to study the impact of transaction costs on the differential contracting behavior of rural land transfer.However,this analysis paradigm implies that the subject of property rights is ruthless and ruthless,and the two have the premise of good separability.Due to the empowerment of empowerment,the identity of property rights supply,geographical monopoly,and the multiple dependence of farmers on land survival,psychology and emotion,farmland is a typical personalized property for farmers,and the trade is more separable difference.Therefore,combined with the characteristics of China’s agricultural land,rural communities and agricultural conditions,Williamson’s analytical paradigm has been expanded and revised.Especially the reduced transaction cost of rural land transfer based on the social capital,which is modified and expanded with the special community capital and special political capital.(5)Village traffic conditions,village topography,farmer’s age and number of household farmers are helpful to prompt farmers to farm land transferred to foreign ordinary farmers,large producers and leading enterprises,to sign a written contract when transferring farmland,to have a positive effect on the higher rents.Social security level will help farmers to sign a written contract when transferring farmland,but it has no significant impact on rent.Farmer’s education level is beneficial for farmers to sign a written contract when they transfer out farmland and to have the higher rents,which has no significant influence on the selection of circulation objects.The care of the transferee in the farmland digging trenches causes farmers to transfer land to relatives such as relatives and neighbors,which has a significant negative effect on the written contract and rents.The number of plots transferred out makes farmers more inclined to transfer the land to the related parties,and their rental asking price is lower,but it has no impact on the form of contract.Whether or not the number of village leaders in the village and their relatives and friends has almost no statistically significant effect on the contracted behavior of farmers’ transferred farmland.