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The Analysis of Formation Mechanism of Regional Agriculture Insurance Based on Chinese National Conditions ZHANG Youxiang1, LIANG Shuna2 1. Institute of Economics of Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China, 130017 2. Business School of Ludong University, Yantai, China, 264000 [email protected] Abstract: The formation mechanism of regional agriculture insurance refers to a mechanism which involves interaction and mutual restriction of different behavioral agents, such as regional insurance consumers, insurance suppliers, central government, local government, and other industries. As decisive factors involving in the development of agriculture insurance display a marked difference in different regions, therefore centralized and unified mechanism is not suitable for the requirements of agricultural development and insurance. Regional agriculture insurance is more corresponding to social and economic development. Keywords: regional agriculture insurance, demand, supply, formation mechanism, government support 1 Introduction In 1994, after the commercial management of China’s agriculture insurance, domestic scholars make more analysis about the forming factors of agriculture insurance, they mainly discuss the forming mechanism of agriculture insurance through functioning mechanism of insurance industry’s forming factors. In 2004, since the agriculture insurance policy management, discussion made by domestic scholars on the formation mechanism of agriculture insurance is more focused on government subsidies, while it is less mentioned the regional particularity of the formation mechanism of agriculture insurance. Although many scholars have noticed the formation mechanism of regional agriculture insurance, they discuss the problem more from the provincial or regional scope. This paper applies the basic theory of regional economics and the agriculture insurance, basing on the special properties of agriculture insurance development and from the perspective of the national region scope as well as supply and demand relation to make a systematically theoretical explanation on the regional formation mechanism of agriculture insurance. The studying perspective and the theory explanation of region has expanded the studying scope of agriculture insurance, thus the conclusion makes our knowledge of agriculture insurance and the measures of policy promoting more realistic. The formation mechanism of regional agriculture insurance refers to the functioning status of the agricultural insurance market formed by the inner factors influencing the forming and operating of agriculture insurance market and the comprehensive functions. Generally speaking, the agriculture insurance depends on the forming of effective demand and supply under the organic combination of market and government as far as the forming mechanism is concerned. While in the forming and functioning process of regional agriculture insurance market, the various factors among regions which influence the effective supply and demand of agriculture insurance vary to different degrees, so that the forming mechanism of agriculture insurance brings different forms in different regions, which is the implementing mechanism and development mode of agriculture insurance present diversity. 2. The Demand Analysis of Regional Agriculture Insurance The demand of regional agriculture insurance refers to the total amount of agriculture insurance goods that the consumers of a region are willing and able to purchase in a certain period (individual farmers or agricultural production units) are willing and meanwhile able to purchase agriculture insurance and the amount of goods. Regional agriculture insurance demand = regional insurance needs + regional 867 insurance desire + regional capacity to pay + regional insurance premium + local government behavior+…+X. 2.1 The regional analysis of agricultural risk Because of the different natural and geographical conditions among regions, the types and risk loss displayed by the agricultural risk among regions vary greatly, and especially the natural risk and its loss degree have distinct regional features. China has a vast area of agricultural production, major disasters in different regions vary, and the risk types, the frequency and the intensity, etc. also vary greatly. The high-altitude regions are cold with short frost-free periods, so the crops are vulnerable for freezing; in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and the Yellow River, the terrain is low, so the crops are vulnerable for the flooding disaster; in the northwestern Loess Plateau, there is little rain and drought disaster often strikes; the coastal areas are vulnerable for typhoon, and red tide, etc. The risk types which are determined by the law of geographical and climatic distribution in different regions determine different agriculture insurances in different regions. Meanwhile, different loss properties of various regions and the risk types and different anti-disaster abilities among people have determined the great differences of the insurance premium demand and compensation standard of agriculture insurance. In the regions where the anti-disaster ability is weak and the economy is underdeveloped, people have strong desire for agriculture insurance, but the purchasing power is inadequate, so it is appropriate with high government subsidies and low premium; Meanwhile, because the direct economic loss is relatively large, the compensation standard should not be set according to the absolute value of the direct economic loss, but rather raise the standard of payment properly. In the regions where the anti-disaster capacity is at moderate level, the economy is underdeveloped, the direct economic loss rate is at moderate level and the desire for agriculture insurance is also at moderate level, but people’s purchasing power is relatively strong, the government subsidies, premium rate and compensation standard should be set at moderate level. In the regions where the anti-disaster capacity is relatively strong, the economy is developed, the direct economic loss rate of agricultural risk is low, the desire for the agriculture insurance is low, but people have stronger purchasing power, the government should take measures of compulsory insurance, low subsidies, high premium rate and low payment standard. 2.2 The regional analysis of economic and social development level The development level of economy and society is an important factor influencing the development of the agriculture insurance. The development level of China’s economy and society presents huge differences among the eastern area, central area, western area, northeastern area and different parts in those areas. The regional difference of economic development level will definitely lead to regional diversity of the demand for agriculture insurance. The difference in different regional economic development level, the major risk types, the risk loss degree and the demand degree for the creation of insurance goods are diverse, even though the agricultural risk has the property of universality. The east area in China is economically developed, the level of marketization is high, and the scope of economic activity is wide, the agricultural production mainly face the natural risk, the market risk and the technical risk, so insurance consumers put forward higher requirement for the output insurance and price insurance of agricultural goods together with the value insurance of agricultural production equipment. And these risks also influence the index of agricultural product variation, rate, and establishment of the compensation standard, which become an important but complicated problem for the development of agriculture insurance in this region, add difficulties to the work of agriculture insurance technology and claims, then, promote creation of agriculture insurance products and the development speed of agriculture insurance. The western area in China is less-developed, the level of marketization is very low, the scope of economic activity is narrow, and the agriculture is basically on the traditional development stage, so it mainly faces the natural risk and the insurance consumers put forward more requirements for the real insurance loss of agricultural goods, thus the frequency of natural risk and the establishment of compensation standard in this region become the major 868 technological problem for local agriculture insurance producers, while there is little difficulty in technicality needed and in the compensation work; but the natural risk is variety, high frequency , and easily affected by seasons, so the amount of work for agriculture insurance is huge, and there is higher requirements for the quality of insurance service. And China’s central and northeastern areas which are called “the country barn” are medium-leveled in economic development between eastern area and western area. In these two areas, the natural risk, market risk and technical risk often function comprehensively and there is strong desire for the creation of agriculture insurance. 2.3 The regional analysis on the income level of rural residents The income level of rural residents is positively related to the demand for agriculture insurance, and the regional differences in income level of rural residents determine the regional variation of demands. The regional differences or gaps in income level of Chinese rural residents determine the variation of demands coming from rural residents in different economic zones. Namely, the rural residents in the east have strong ability to pay for agriculture insurance, and have strong consciousness of risk prevention as well. Whether the combination of them can be transformed into strong demand for agriculture insurance, it depends on the percentage of farming income in household income. The higher the percentage is, the stronger the demand is. The paying capacity for agriculture insurance of rural residents from central regions is relatively insufficient, but the agricultural income accounts for a large percentage of family income, therefore the demand for agriculture insurance is on the rise. As for the western regions, the payment capacity for agriculture insurance of rural residents is at a low level. What’s more, in some degree, farming income is the only source of family income. Hence, people there have strong desire for agriculture insurance, but the demand is insufficient. 2.4 Regional analysis of rural people’s insurance awareness Regional insurance awareness is affected by history, culture, society, and psychology factors in different regions. The difference of history, culture, society and psychology lead to the different insurance awareness in different regions which causes the different demands for insurance. In the east part of China, insurance business started early and develops quickly. Thus there are many types of insurance products and the insurance awareness of the people there is strong. The mid-west area insurance business starts late, develops slowly, the products are few, and people’s insurance awareness is relatively weak. While in these poor remote regions, people did not even know what the insurance is, not mention the modern insurance awareness. From social and the psychological aspect, the opening degree in eastern area is higher and populations there are highly concentrated and floating, thus people in this area are easy to accept new things which are helpful to build up insurance awareness. The mid-west areas develop slowly and people there live in a relatively large area where is not good for building up insurance awareness. In the poor remote and old revolutionary base areas, there are small populations with low speed of floating, and people there live in uninformed and nasty environment, which lead to weak insurance awareness there, even some misunderstanding to insurance. 3. The Regional Supply Analysis of Agriculture Insurance Regional agriculture insurance supply refers to, in the condition of a certain insurance price, the total amount of insurance products that all the insurance companies in a region are willing and able to provide. The demand of agriculture insurance is the most vital element for the supply of the regional agriculture insurance in region. In addition, other elements that affect and restrict the agriculture insurance supply include the capital value of manufactures, the paying capacity of consumers, the numbers and quality of staffs related to the regional insurance, the category and price of regional insurance, and regional government behaviors and so on. It can be showed in a formula, the supply of regional agriculture insurance = the capital value of manufactures + the paying capacity of consumers + the numbers and quality of staffs related to the regional insurance + the price of regional insurance + the 869 management capability of regional insurance companies + regional government behaviors + … + X. 3.1 The regional analysis of the development of banking and insurance business The development of regional economy is the premise of the regional agriculture insurance’s development and it also determines the development of regional banking and insurance business, the financial power and the scale of financially supporting agriculture of this region, and then it affects the supply and inventive capacity of the agriculture insurance products, in which the development of regional banking and insurance is the main factor influencing the supply of regional insurance products. While the development of the regional banking and insurance business is determined by the economic and social development of the region, which means that the higher the region’s economy, the market, social capital, the modern civilization and the banking and insurance business develop, the supply capacity of its products develop. The differences in the level of banking and insurance’s development will bring in the difference of agriculture insurance base and the difference of supply capacity of agriculture insurance products. Since the reform and opening, China’s banking and insurance have developed rapidly, the financial volume and structure are changing constantly, and state-owned commercial banks, non-state-owned commercial banks, and foreign-invested financial institutions also developed fast, and relative financial ratios, the credit support ratio of economic growth in all regions are on the rise. However, the eastern area is always on the top of that; while in the middle and west of China, they were equally matched before 1990, but 1990 was a turning point, and the Western financial development obviously exceeded the middle. According to “financial market developing index” that exactly show the development of banking business, both in stock market and insurance market, all the big economic areas have an fast increasing tendency, but the gap is even large among these areas. The financing and premium income in the East is as more than twice as that in the middle and the West, and the middle area is twice the west, which means there is not only absolute financial difference among regions, but the relative difference. The large differences among regions determine the differences in the base of insurance development and the supply capacity of agriculture insurance products. So we know the base of insurance development and supply capacity of agriculture insurance products in the east area is the best, then the northeast area, and the middle, and the west is the worst. 3.2 The regional analysis of the capability to supply and innovation of agriculture insurance products The capability to supply and innovation of agriculture insurance products depends on the development of insurance, especially the agriculture insurance business. The development insurance business including agriculture insurance lies in infrastructure, capital, information, technology, management, talents, and salary and so on. Thus, these vital factors could not be balanced in the spatial distribution, so the development level of regional insurance is different. The unbalance of regional insurance development is reflected by economic unbalance of regions. During past 20 years of restoring in China’s insurance business, some Eastern area, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and so on have a lot of advantages to bring investors, capital, technology and labor force here, so the East has faster development in insurance business, forming the “center of regional insurance”, for example, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, while, owing to the lack of technology, talents in Middle and Western insurance business, they lag behind relatively. In the aspect of premium income scale, the number of insurance organizations, insurance agency business, as well as intensity and density of insurance, there are tendencies of gradual decrease from the East to the West. The regional difference of China’s insurance development results in the difference in agriculture insurance products and innovations. 3.3 The regional analysis of the strength of public finance and the scale of public finance to support agriculture 870 Agriculture insurance theory and practice show that the development of agriculture insurance depends on the support of public finance, so the strength of public finance and the scale of public finance to support agriculture are the important guarantees of agriculture insurance development. The difference of the strength of public finance and the scale of public finance to support agriculture in different regions will lead to the difference of regional agriculture insurance development and the supply of insurance products. The unbalance of Chinese economy and social development directly leads to the interregional strength of public finance and the scale of public finance to support agriculture unbalanced, along with the difference of regional supply capacity of agriculture insurance products. Especially since the reform and opening was carried out, with the influence of economic gradient development, the difference of economic development in different regions of China is bigger and bigger, along with the bigger and bigger difference of public financial strength and public service, and the strength of public finance and the scale of public finance to support agriculture show an gradient distribution, which surely brings in the difference of regional agriculture insurance development and the insurance products supply. 4. Enforcement Mechanism of Regional Agriculture Insurance The differences in demand and supply of regional agriculture insurance bring about the complexity of formation and development of regional agriculture insurance. Completely relying on market mechanism can not achieve the optimizing allocation of agriculture insurance resources, and it can not achieve the goal of coordinated development of agriculture insurance among regions as well, so we must have government’s intervention and support. Among different regions, there is a big difference in abilities that local governments intervene in the development of agriculture insurance. In some degree, the intervention of local governments can promote the development of agriculture insurance within the region, but it can not achieve the goal of coordinated development of agriculture insurance among regions. Hence, it requires the central government to make institutional arrangements, by adjusting zoning and implementing preferential financial policies to guide relatively balanced configuration of resources of agriculture insurance, to promote and realize the coordinated development of agriculture insurance among regions. For areas where regional risk is high and the insurance industry is weak (Grade region), which calls for local governments strongly support the development of agriculture insurance in the region. First of all, we should combine voluntary insurance and high premium subsidies, intervene and reduce the price of insurance products in order to solve the problem ––– insufficient paying capacity of consumers. We should stimulate the consumer market, and drive the demand for agriculture insurance. Second, we should continue to implement preferential tax policy and technical support for insurance suppliers, and enforce policies to underpin disasters. We should try to solve the problems –– producer’s loss risk, low profit margins, low enthusiasm for production, in order to increase the supply of agriculture insurance. Through those approaches, we can achieve the conformance of demand and supply, and promote the sustainable development of regional agriculture insurance, and improve the level of social welfare. Because of high subsidies, high risk, and disastrous underpinning, it requires local governments having huge financial strength. If the local government (West China) does not have or have no full capacity, its financial subsidy should be undertaken by the central government. This requires the central government and local governments work individually and cooperatively in the development of regional agriculture insurance. It not only solves the problem of insufficient financial capabilities of local governments, but also reduces or drops the burden or cost of central government over regional agriculture insurance. For areas where regional risk is high and the insurance industry is strong (Grade region), consumers have strong ability to pay agriculture insurance and producers have strong productive capacity. What local government should do is to do their utmost to transform the paying and productive capacities into reality. On the one hand, local government should combine voluntary insurance and compulsory insurance and enforce the strategy, that is, increase insurance subsidies by degrees. The purposes are to Ⅰ Ⅱ 871 realize universal insurance, and stimulate demand for agriculture insurance. On the other hand, local government should raise the price of insurance products appropriately, and provide necessary technical support, tax incentives and catastrophe underpinning for producers, and increase the supply of agriculture insurance. In general, local governments of such regions (Southeast coastal area) tend to have these capacities. In some cases, central government can partially share the burden of local deficiencies. For areas where regional risk is low and the insurance industry is strong (Grade region), consumers have strong ability to pay agriculture insurance and producers have strong productive capacity. Therefore, the key issue is to solve the problem, that is, not much demand for insurance. Local government need to enforce compulsory insurance, raise the price of insurance products appropriately, and increase insurance subsidies by degrees. It not only solves the problem of insufficient effective demands causing by insufficient demands for insurance, but also solves the problem of misunderstanding causing by compulsory insurance, that is, “insurance is arbitrary charges”. For these areas where risk is low and financial capacity of local government is relatively strong, central government merely implements the macro-control, not investing in it. For areas where regional risk is low and the insurance industry is not highly developed (Grade region), the key issue is the consumers’ demand for agriculture insurance. Local government must enforce compulsory insurance, lower the prices of insurance products appropriately, and increase insurance subsidies by degrees and return the premium cost at the same time, in order to stimulate the consumers’ demand for insurance. At the same time, they should continue to implement preferential tax policy, technical support and catastrophe underpinning policies for insurance suppliers to encourage suppliers to innovate insurance products increasing the effective supply of agriculture insurance. Due to the limited financial strength of such areas, the central government should increase investment in the development of agriculture insurance. Ⅲ Ⅳ 5 Conclusion Even within the same country, the agriculture insurance has different forms under different conditions, for instance, different times, different regions, different risk profiles, various levels of economic and social development, various income levels of rural residents, various insurance awareness and financial capacity of rural residents, and the development of insurance. These variations have marked influence on the formation of agriculture insurance. The construction of regional agriculture insurance must be based on reality. A reasonable defining of the government’s interventionist role and market’s effective scale is essential. It is necessary to promote the combination of government and market, in order to keep good interaction among government, producer, and consumer. For regions ( and ), they’re better to adopt the policy which the agriculture insurance is operated commercially under government’s guidance. For regions ( and ), it’s proper to adopt the policy which commercialization of the agriculture insurance should be given priority. The assistance of government is necessary and different emphases should be paid on referring to different regions. Ⅰ Ⅳ Ⅱ Ⅲ Author in brief: 1.ZHANG Youxiang, male, (Feb. 1971 -- ), place of berth: Shouguang County of Shandong Province, PhD of Economics, the present associate professor of Institute of Economics of Northeast Normal University. 2. Liang Shuna, female, (Oct.1971 -- ), place of berth: Pear-tree County of Jilin Province, PhD of Economics, the present associate professor of Business School of Ludong University. 872 References [1]. XIE Jiazhi. Research on the Regional Development of Agricultural Insurance [J]. Research of Agricultural Modernization, 2004, 25 1 : 31 34 (in Chinese) [2]. ZHANG Youxiang, On Mechanism and Developing Mode of Regional Agriculture Insurance [D]: [Ph.D.Thesis]. 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