宗族网络、融资与农民自主创业

Lineage Networks,Microfinance and Entrepreneurship

运用农业部的固定观察点调查和中国经济研究中心的补充调查数据,本文考察了宗族网络对农民创业的影响、作用机制及宗族网络作用随市场化的变化。我们发现:(1)以家庭姓氏的人口比例衡量的宗族网络规模对家庭创业的影响不大,而真正发挥作用的是宗族网络的强度。姓氏宗族修建祠堂为内部成员间的交流协作提供一个基础和可能性,使得他们更便利地获取创业机会;(2)宗族网络的强度有助于提高家庭的民间融资额,为农民的创业行为提供资金支持,从而有助于创业;(3)在正规金融机构相对缺乏的村庄,以宗族组织为基础形成的民间借贷网络对自主创业的影响会更大。

This paper examines the hypothesis that the higher probability of entrepreneurship in rural China is due to the existence of social networks that provide mutual formal or private loans to their members. A unique panel data is captured by the National Fixed -point Survey （NFS） and the retrospective survey on Chinese vil- lage elections from China Center for Economic Research （CCER）. Our key finding is that rural households as- sociated with the ancestral hall or coming from denser lineage networks are more likely to establish a business, while the scale of lineage networks embodied in the household surname population size facilitates entrepreneur- ship to a much lesser extent. Further econometric analysis has shown that households from a more cohesive line- age network are more likely to get private loans. We also find that in rural China where formal financial services are severely lagging behind, lineage networks play a complementary role in supplying private credit and thus promoting entrepreneurship.