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| ANALYSIS ON THE ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR OF THE HERDSMAN IN THE HEXI CORRIDOR——A Case Study of Sunan County |
| ZHONG Fang-lei1,2, FAN Sheng-yue1 |
1. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou 730000, China;
2. College of Earth Science, Graduate School of CAS, Beijing 100039, China |
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Abstract Herdsman is the main form of economic activities in the pastoral area,and is also the fundamental unit in Chinese pasture based on animal husbandry.Hence,the sustainable development of the economy in this pastoral area is closely related with its economic behavior.
According to the survey data from the Sunan county located in Qilian Mountains of China,(a) the economic behavior of herdsman is explored and (b) some economical models are carried out to analyses how the herdsman make their decision as well as the relationship between productive capital input and product output on theoretical method.Results of this analysis show that:1) The economic behavior of the herdsman in Sunan county is seasonal and persistent.It also has a two-sided character,risk averse but hope for fortune. The economic behavior is characterized by low degree of diversity and high tendency to singleness; meanwhile,the behavior is more and more affected by market information and scientific and technological factors;2) For farmer,the higher the proportion of non-agricultural investment and income is,the higher total income is.However,the situation is not the same as that of the herdsman's.Because of the special production condition and character in pastureland the herdsman's income can't be guaranteed by high proportion of non-agricultural investment and income;3) With the increase of herdsman's income,their expenditure is also got increased.It's obvious that herdsman's expenditure is accelerated with their improved income level,which is primarily attributed to some irrational activities such as comparison,wastes etc.;4) The herdsman's productive payout is greatly few than maintenance payout,which indicates the herdsman's desire to investment and expand reproduction is so weak.They are maintaining the dimension already existed.The situation of almost all the capital used for expenditure except that a small amount of which is applied for simple reproduction should be changed,so that more income could be achieved by increasing the proportion of the investment for production.
From our investigation,the capital is not the only restriction of the decision-making mechanism of the herdsman.The circumstance of community,policy and market as well as the knowledge,intention and management are all influencing their decision-making.In a word,the decision-making mechanism is a income-risk mechanism which restricted by the all aspects discussed above.
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Received: 19 April 2004
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2005, Vol. 20 
