scholarly journals Property Rights, Land Misallocation and Agricultural Efficiency in China

Author(s):  
Amalavoyal Chari ◽  
Elaine M Liu ◽  
Shing-Yi Wang ◽  
Yongxiang Wang

Abstract This paper examines the impact of a property rights reform in rural China that allowed farmers to lease out their land. We find the reform led to increases in land rental activity in rural households. Our results indicate that the formalization of leasing rights resulted in a redistribution of land toward more productive farmers. Consequently, output and aggregate productivity increased by 8 and 10%, respectively. We also find that the reform increased the responsiveness of land allocation across crops to changes in crop prices.

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanxiang Liu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of China’s rural households’ non-farm participation. The authors pay special attention to the effect of potential income differential on this participation. Design/methodology/approach The data used in this study come from a household survey conducted in Hubei Province. The authors estimate participation equation and income equation, respectively, then introduce potential income differential simulated in participation equation to examine its effect on non-farm participation. Findings Potential income differential serves as the major pull factor that favors non-farm participation. Education, proximity to a city and specialized commercial farming are crucial in helping rural households to participate in non-farm production; while the land shortage or the labor surplus act as the push factor in non-farm participation. Better quality of land reduces the household’s propensity to participate in non-farm activities. Moreover, the income gap between households that participate in non-farm activities and pure farmers is mainly determined by the differences in household characteristics. Originality/value The authors use the method of “switching regression and structural probit” to examine the impact of potential income differential on non-farm participation, and simulate the response of the participation probability to the change of potential income differential. The authors also analyze the sources of income gap between non-farm and farm households using Oaxaca decomposition.


Author(s):  
Yahui Wang ◽  
Qingyuan Yang ◽  
Liangjie Xin ◽  
Jingyu Zhang

The lack or instability of the pension system for the elderly in rural China has become a paramount obstacle for sustainable land transfer, namely land use right transfer among farmers, in the context of aging. The New Rural Pension System (NRPS), a pilot project that provided basic security for the elderly, was implemented in 10% of counties in 2009 and rapidly promoted nationwide in China. This study evaluates the impact of NRPS on farmland transfer by developing econometric models by employing the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2015. The participation rate in NRPS increased from 25.87% in 2011 to 80.85% in 2015, and the participation rate in farmland transfer rose from 11.56% to 24.04%. Everything else being held equal, the probability of farmers who transferred out their land increased by approximately 13% and the land area has been transferred increased by 11.2% due to participation in NRPS, indicating that the NRPS improved the operation efficiency of land rental market. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis showed that the probability and area mentioned above had a significant upward trend with the increase of the time and insured amount of participation in NRPS, which reduced dependence on farmland for the elderly and promoted the sustainability of land transfer. The government should further encourage farmers to increase the coverage and insured amount of pension system in the context of aging. Meanwhile, a platform to promote land transfer should be established to provide information about land supply and demand and reduce the transaction cost of land rental market.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-641
Author(s):  
Yingmei Tang ◽  
Yue Yang ◽  
Jihong Ge ◽  
Jian Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of weather index insurance on agricultural technology adoption in rural China. Design/methodology/approach A field experiment was conducted with 344 rural households/farmers in Heilongjiang and Jiangsu Provinces, China. DID model was used to evaluate farmers’ technology adoption with and without index insurance. Findings The results show that weather index insurance has a significant effect on the technology adoption of rural households; there is a regional difference in this effect between Heilongjiang and Jiangsu. Weather index insurance promotes technology adoption of rural households in Heilongjiang, while has limited impact on those in Jiangsu. Weather, planting scale and risk preference are also important factors influencing the technology adoption of rural households. Research limitations/implications This research is subject to some limitations. First, the experimental parameters are designed according to the actual situation to simulate reality, but the willingness in the experiment does not mean it will be put into action in reality. Second, due to the diversity of China’s climate, geography and economic environment, rural households are heterogeneous in rural China. Whether the conclusion can be generalized beyond the study area is naturally questionable. A study with more diverse samples is needed to gain a fuller understanding of index insurance’s effects on farmers in China. Originality/value This research provides a rigorous empirical analysis on the impact of weather index insurance on farmers’ agricultural technology adoption through a carefully designed field experiment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1088-1100
Author(s):  
Yuying Liu ◽  
Alan Renwick ◽  
Xinhong Fu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm income on food expenditure, using survey data of 493 rural households from Gansu, Henan and Shandong provinces in China. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage least squares estimator is used to jointly estimate the determinants of off-farm income and the direct impact of off-farm income on food expenditure while controlling for the endogeneity issue associated with off-farm income variable. Findings The empirical results show that gender, education of household head, household size, farm size, the presence of children, smartphone use and asset ownership mainly determine off-farm income, and the off-farm income affects food expenditure of rural households significantly. In particular, the results show that a 1,000 yuan increase in per capita off-farm income increases per capita food expenditure by 61 yuan. Further estimations reveal that off-farm income has a larger effect on food expenditure of high-income rural households relative to their low-income counterparts. Originality/value Although poverty implications of off-farm income have been well documented, few studies have analysed the effects of off-farm income on food expenditure of rural households. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no studies on this issue that focus on rural China. Therefore, the present study attempts to provide a first insight into the association between off-farm income and food expenditure of rural households in China, with the aim of providing useful evidence for policymakers in their efforts to reduce rural and urban food consumption gap and further increase social welfare.


2020 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 104736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueming Cao ◽  
Yunli Bai ◽  
Linxiu Zhang

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liqiong Lin ◽  
Weizhuo Wang ◽  
Christopher Gan ◽  
David A. Cohen ◽  
Quang T.T Nguyen

This paper investigates the effects of rural households’ demographic characteristics on formal credit constraint, and explores the relationship between informal and formal lending in rural China. Using 2013 China’s Household Finance survey data, the authors apply probit regression models to investigate the effects of demographic factors on formal credit constraint and the household’s decision to borrow from informal credit sources. In addition, the endogenous switching regression model is applied to evaluate the impact of credit constraint on the welfare of rural farm households. The empirical evidence confirms that age, family size, annual household nonagricultural income, level of education, and history of informal borrowing have significant influence over credit constraint. Moreover, annual household nonagricultural income, the presence of children, borrowing from social networks and monthly communication expenses significantly impact rural households’ decision to utilise informal borrowing. Results from the endogenous switching regression model suggest that credit constraint by formal credit sources has no impact on household consumption.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiliang Su ◽  
Tor Eriksson ◽  
Linxiu Zhang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm employment on the concentration of farmland via households’ land rental activities in rural China. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses Probit and Tobit models to estimate the effect of off-farm employment on land rental activities. Furthermore, the paper compares the degree of land concentration between pre-renting and post-renting in terms of Gini coefficients of farmland ownership at village level. Findings The authors find that off-farm employment has a positive effect on the renting out farmland, and insignificant effect on renting in farmland. Moreover, off-farm employment intensifies the concentration of farmland from small farms toward big farms by renting activities. Originality/value The authors believe that the results will contribute positively to the assessment of the effect of off-farm employment on land concentration in the context of the urbanization process in China.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuk-Shing Cheng ◽  
Kim-Sau Chung
Keyword(s):  

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