A Theoretical And Empirical Study Of Sustainable Consumption Ggrowth In Rural Areas

This dissertation is about a theoretical and empirical study of sustainable consumption growth in rural areas.Sustainable consumption is a new consumption pattern which balances economy,society,environment,resources and population,etc.,against the background of New Normal featuring a lower economic growth rate and economic structure transforming & upgrading.China has a huge agricultural population,and rural consumption will play a significant role in expanding the domestic demand for a long time in the future.However,the consumption concept of Chinese rural residents is not scientific,their consumption behavior is not reasonable,their consumption mode is not sustainable,and the rural consumption structure needs to be improved.An unsustainable rural consumption will produce violent impact on the rural economic growth,natural environmental protection and resource conservation,etc.,and bring a great influence to the Chinese economic and social development in the end.Therefore,it is significant both in theory and practice to study the concept and connotation of rural sustainable consumption deeply,analyze the present situation and main problems of rural sustainable consumption,evaluate the potential of sustainable consumption growth in rural areas,measure the spatial differences of sustainable consumption growth in rural areas,explore the economic and social impacts of sustainable rural consumption growth,and design the corresponding policy framework of promoting the sustainable rural consumption growth.1.Main contents of the study(1)A theoretical analysis framework of rural sustainable consumption growth is constructed.The dissertation reviews the related theories and international advanced experience;defines the concept,connotation,principle and core idea of rural consumption and rural sustainable consumption,analyzes the running mechanism of rural sustainable consumption growth,and evaluates the evaluation principle,evaluation method and evaluation index system of rural sustainable consumption growth potential.(2)The present situation and potential evaluation of rural sustainable consumption growth are analyzed.This dissertation statistically analyzes the current situation of rural consumption in this stage,points out the main problems of its existence and analyzes the reasons for the slow development of sustainable consumption in rural areas,and evaluates the sustainable development of rural consumption economic system,rural consumer social system and rural consumption environment system.On this basis,the comprehensive index measuring the sustainable development of rural sustainable development potential is tested.(3)The spatial difference of rural sustainable consumption growth and its influence on economic and social development are empirically studied.Gini coefficient,Theil index,the mean logarithmic deviation and the clustering analysis method are used to analyze the regional differences of sustainable rural consumption growth in China;Spatial convergence model is used to test the spatial convergence of sustainable rural consumption growth in China empirically;dynamic panel econometric model with systematic GMM are sued to test the influences of sustainable rural consumption growth on income gap between urban and rural areas as well as the upgrading of industrial structure.(4)A long term mechanism of promoting the rural sustainable consumption growth is designed and the corresponding policy suggestions are made,based on the results of empirical studies,as well as the realities of rural economic development in China.2.Main conclusions of the study(1)Since the reform and opening up,China's rural consumption has improved significantly,but there are still some problems,such as low consumption level,irrational structure and backward mode,and the development of rural sustainable consumption is relatively slow.Since the reform and opening up,the total cash expenditure of rural residents and its proportion of the per capita net income increased;food,clothing,housing,household goods,transportation and communication spending accounted for as high as 75.5%,while the education and entertainment expenditure and healthcare spending accounted for only 12.81% and 9.33%.The consumption structure is not reasonable;and the lagged consumption pattern of rural residents is not conducive to the sustainable development of economy and society,bringing a tremendous pressure to the natural resources and ecological environment;at present,the slow development of sustainable rural consumption in China is mainly due to the unsustainable production mode and consumption concept,the regulation-lack environment for consumption,gradually degrading culture of consumption and unsound policy of consumption.(2)During the sample period,the potential for sustainable consumption growth in rural China is continuously improving,but there is a big difference in the sustainable consumption potential between rural consumer economic system,rural consumer social system and rural consumer environment system.Overall,during 2003-2014,the regional rural sustainable consumption growth potential index grew with a relatively slow speed;the sustainable consumption potential of the rural consumer economy system has been in a relatively stable state with a relatively small space for increasing;the sustainable consumption growth potential of rural consumer social system and rural consumer environment system is growing continuously.(3)The potential of China's rural sustainable consumption growth not only exists obvious regional differences,but also has a significant ? convergence.Spatial characteristics are the important factors that affect the sustainable growth potential of rural sustainable consumption.The results of Gini coefficient,logarithmic difference mean,Theil index and cluster analysis show that there is a significant regional difference in the sustainable consumption growth potential of rural areas in China.The Moran index shows that the sustainable growth potential of rural areas in China is in the geographical spatial distribution with a significant correlation and heterogeneity.The spatial convergence model is used to find the significant spatial ? convergence of the potential of sustainable consumption growth in rural areas.Spatial characteristics are important factors influencing the convergence of rural sustainable consumption growth potential.Furthermore,the spatial convergence rate of rural sustainable consumption growth potential in western China is slightly larger than that in the eastern and middle regions,and the spatial convergence rate of rural sustainable consumption growth potential is relatively slow after 2008.(4)Rural sustainable consumption growth is beneficial for narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas and promoting the industrial structure upgrading,to some extent.The results of dynamic panel data model show that rural sustainable consumption growth has a significant negative effect on the income gap between urban and rural areas,and a significant positive effect on the rural industrial structure upgrading.It illustrates that the improving growth rate of rural sustainable consumption will further optimize the resource allocation and rural consumption structure,which is beneficial for narrowing the income gap of urban and rural residents,and promoting the upgrading of rural industrial structure.(5)For promoting the rural sustainable consumption growth,it needs to design a reasonable and effective policy guidance mechanism,price regulation mechanism,guaranteeing & driving mechanism and urban-rural interaction mechanism.Policy guidance mechanism contains income,industry and scientific technology oriented policy guidance mechanism.Price regulation mechanism contains price fixing,adjusting,supervising and guiding mechanisms.Guaranteeing & driving mechanism contains law & regulation guaranteeing mechanism and policy practice & supervision mechanism;Urban-rural interaction mechanism contains urban-rural resources,capital,employment and entrepreneurial mechanisms.3.Main views of the study(1)Sustainable consumption and sustainable development is connected with the previous decides the latter.Sustainable consumption is a new consumption pattern which balances economy,society,environment,resources and population,etc.in the New Normal with economy growing slower and economic structure transforming & upgrading.Sustainable consumption in rural areas is the engine of sustainable growth of China's economy.(2)Sustainable consumption only requires the people to limit their excessive expansion of material desires,and transform the consumption pattern from luxury to ecological model,from quantity to quality model,and from unfair to balanced model.To dig out the potential for sustainable consumption growth in rural areas is an important way to curb the widening gap between urban and rural areas and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas.(3)Rural sustainable consumption growth promotes the rural economic & social development,narrows the urban-rural gap and balance the urban-rural development.Rural sustainable consumption motivates the rural economic growth,and the rural economic growth provides the foundation for rural sustainable consumption: both of them depend,restrain and promote each other.To explore the financial value of rural household assets is an important way to boost the rural sustainable consumption growth and raise the potentiality.On condition of rural household assets legalization,rural consumption grows with the exploration of values of rural household assets.4.Policy suggestions of this study(1)It is necessary to fasten the financial service innovation,to provide multiple ways for rural consumption and financing.It needs to strengthen the support of policy finance,deepen the reform of rural credit association,and attract the insurance company,bonding company,trust company and foreign-funded financial institute,etc.to enter the rural areas,to improve the retail financial services of rural community,and the law & regulations related to agricultural insurance.(2)It is necessary to strengthen the fiscal support,to stimulate the potentiality of rural consumption growth.It needs to reduce the tax burden of rural enterprises,to promote the rural economic & consumption development;balance the urban-rural fiscal expenditure,to fasten the rural economic & social development balancedly;increase the transfer payment,to improve the fiscal support for agriculture of grass-roots government;realize the guidance of fiscal investment,to foster the industrial cluster and boost the rural urbanization.(3)It is necessary to emphasize the public service & support,to optimize the consumption environment of rural residents.It needs to promote the equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas,strengthen the rural infrastructure construction,improve the circulation system of rural consumption products,relief the rural internal consumption demand,fasten the legal confirmation of rural household assets legalization,optimize the market and ecological environments of rural consumption,and raise the consumption standard & quality of rural residents.(4)It is necessary to improve the social security system,to solve the worries of rural consumption.It needs to promote the basic social security system,such as rural endowment insurance,cooperative medical insurance and the lowest life guarantee,etc.;strengthen the security efforts for the migrant workers;strengthen the supervision of realizing the rural social security system.(5)It is necessary to fix the employment support polity,to promote the steady growth of farmer's income.It needs to foster the small and labor intensive enterprises in rural areas,to create the jobs for rural left-behind population;strengthen the vocational skills education & training,to improve the vocational capacities of rural labors;encourage the rural residents to start businesses,to solve the employment problem in another way;construct an employment service platform for rural areas.