Dissertation Research: Household Management of Shrimp Aquaculture in Southern China: Account of Coastal Resource Development

本项目涉及加州大学洛杉矶分校一名人类学专业学生的毕业论文研究。这名学生将研究沿海自然资源的不平等如何影响中国对虾养殖的家庭管理。假说认为，资源富裕户将形成创业型经营方式，实行集约化生产，而资源贫穷户将遵循规避风险、多元化和分散化的经营和经济生产方式。实行集约化养虾的家庭在劳动力分配、决策、财务管理和家庭文化方面与使用更可持续的传统方法的家庭不同。方法包括结构化访谈、决策制定的正式研究、时间分配研究以及参与者观察。这项研究很重要，因为对虾水产养殖的增长是世界上许多较贫穷国家经济发展的一部分，并与对当地生态系统的损害有关。在家庭决策的微观层面上，我们对这些经济系统如何运作的了解的进步，将有助于规划者在努力保持发展效益的同时改善生态成本。

This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from UCLA. The student will investigate how unequal access to coastal natural resources affects the household management of shrimp aquaculture in China. The hypothesis is that resource-rich households will develop entrepreneurial management styles and practice intensive production, while resource-poor households will follow a risk-averse, diversified and diffused style of management and economic production. Households practicing intensive shrimp aquaculture differ from those using more sustainable traditional methods in terms of labor allocation, decision making, financial management and household culture. Methods include structured interviews, formal studies of decision making, time allocation studies as well as participant observation. This research is important because the growth of shrimp aquaculture is part of economic development in many poorer nations of the world, and has been associated with harm to the local ecosystem. The advance in our knowledge of how these economic systems work in micro-level detail of household decision making, will be helpful to planners trying to maintain the developmental benefits while ameliorating the ecological costs.