Research On The Effect Of Social Capital On The Willingness Of Farmers To Participate In The Rural Mutual Funds

Rural finance is an indispensable part of our financial system.However,due to the current "monopoly","commercialization" and "homogenization" trends in rural financial supply,the farmers’ financial demand is difficult to satisfy.The contradiction between the financial demand of farmers in "urgent,small,scattered and frequent" and the serious shortage of financial services has given birth to rural mutual funds.The emergence of mutual funds has become an effective way to supplement the supply of rural finance.As the most direct user and beneficiary,farmers’ participation has become the primary prerequisite for the development of rural mutual funds.However,from the actual survey,farmers have limited enthusiasm for participation,and the mutual funds are generally based on geography,blood relationship and popularity,and there is a natural connection between social capital and farmers’ participation in mutual funds.Based on this,this study attempts to establish the theoretical influence mechanism of social capital on the willingness of farmers to participate in mutual funds,and use the survey data to test the effect of social capital on farmers’ participation willingness,and then provides theoretical basis and policy suggestions for mobilizing farmers to participate actively in rural mutual funds.This article takes social capital as an entry point,constructs the index system of social capital measurement through the elaboration of its multi-dimensional characteristics and the selection of specific measurement indexes of various dimensions,and studies the impact mechanism of social capital on the participation of farmers in mutual funds.First of all,based on the analysis of social capital theory,cooperative finance theory and peasant household behavior theory,this paper establishes the theoretical mechanism model of social capital affecting peasant household participation in mutual funds,and attempts to explain the impact social capital on farmers’ participation from the perspectives of information transmission,mortgage replacement,herding and supervision effects.Secondly,on the basis of combing the relevant theoretical literature,the social capital of farmers is divided into four dimensions: social network,social trust,social prestige and social norms,and 393 households’ micro farmers’ data in Xuzhou,Jiangsu Province,are used to analyze the characteristics of their social capital and their various dimensions.Finally,based on the current situation of farmer households participating in mutual funds,the paper analyzes the characteristics of farmer’s social capital and establishes the Probit model to explore the effect of farmers’ social capital and different dimensions on farmers’ willingness to participate in mutual fund.Through empirical analysis,the following conclusions can be drawn:(1)Social capital has a positive effect on farmers’ willingness to participate in rural mutual funds.(2)Among the variables of social capital,social network,social trust and social prestige have a significant positive impact on the willingness of farmers to participate.(3)The influence of social norms on Farmers’ participation is not significant.(4)From the perspective of marginal effect,the descending order of the impact of social capital on the willingness of rural households to participate is as follows: social trust>social network> social prestige.