Economic Effect of Rural Labor Transfer in China

With the continuous development of China’s economy and the acceleration of urbanization, more and more rural labor force is gradually transferred to cities and non-agricultural industries. Although the transfer of rural labor force can increase farmers’ income, improve farmers’ quality of life, and accelerate the process of urbanization and agricultural modernization in China, the unreasonable transfer of rural labor force has also brought some problems to China’s agricultural development. This paper mainly through the method of combining theoretical derivation and empirical analysis, using the data from 2010 to 2015 to analyze, study the influence of rural labor transfer on agricultural production, explore the relationship between rural labor transfer and agricultural development and provide relevant policy suggestions.

Rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap: evidence from China

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to elaborate the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of labor transfer, and use a dynamic panel mediation model to test the transmission mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer, so as to provide an empirical basis for narrowing the urban–rural income gap in China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper constructs a mechanism analysis framework for rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap. From the perspective of resource allocation and labor transfer, the authors expound the transmission path of rural credit input to the urban–rural income gap and analyze the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input that affects the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer. Based on this, this paper uses the dynamic panel mediation model to test the effect relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2018.FindingsIn theory, increasing rural credit input can ease the financial constraints on the development of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and provide capital accumulation for the development of rural non-agricultural industries. The development of rural non-agricultural industries can provide more jobs for rural surplus labor, thereby increasing the labor rate of return in rural areas, and ultimately conducive to narrowing the urban–rural income gap. Further, increasing rural credit input can improve the development level of rural non-agricultural industries, thereby promoting the transfer of agricultural labor. At the same time, rural credit input based on the intermediary variable of labor transfer has a significant inhibitory effect on the urban–rural income gap.Research limitations/implicationsThis study mainly focuses on the relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap, so it is impossible to use micro-level data to further verify the impact of rural credit input on labor transfer. At the same time, the collection of indicators of rural credit investment in the China Financial Yearbook only started in 2009, which limited the number of samples to a certain extent.Practical implicationsThis paper assumes that the economy is mainly composed of urban and rural economic sectors. Therefore, labor can flow freely between urban and rural areas. However, in the near future, China's rural secondary and tertiary industries may develop rapidly, especially with the in-depth implementation of rural revitalization strategy, it is very important to pay attention to the current situation of rural industrial structure and incorporate the factors such as rural industrial structure into the existing model.Social implicationsThis study attempts to provide a new perspective and inspiration for rural credit input, the optimal allocation of labor force and narrowing the urban–rural income gap under China's rural revitalization strategy.Originality/valueBased on the analysis framework of neoclassical economic theory, this paper uses the constant elasticity of substitution production function to establish an urban–rural two-sector nested model that includes credit supply variables and analyzes the mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer.

Sustainability Evaluation on the Grain to Green Program in the Hexi Corridor of China: A Metacoupled System Perspective

Most previous studies aim to predict ecosystem sustainability from the perspective of a sole human or natural system and have frequently failed to achieve their desired outcome. Based on the coupled human and natural system (CHANS) and its interaction with other systems, we attempted to analyze the effectiveness of the Grain to Green Program and predict future trends in the Hexi Corridor, the hub of the ancient silk road of China. At different scales, we applied a metacoupling framework to investigate the flows, effects, and causes of the complex CHANS. Three typical inner river watersheds within the corridor at three different geographic scales (local, regional and national) were estimated and compared. The Telecoupling Geo App, additional models, and software tools were employed to evaluate the CHANS series of the focal system (Hexi Corridor, local), adjacent system (Gansu Province, regional), and distant system (China, national). The results showed that most flows can be screened and quantitatively analyzed across focal, adjacent and distant systems. The social and economic transformations in adjacent and distant systems could affect the possibility and whereabouts of labor transfer in the focal system. Moreover, the labor migration increased the implementation efficiency of the Grain to Green Program as a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) strategy, thereby improving its ecological benefits. For the first time, we established a metacoupled model to quantitatively evaluate aspects of ecosystem sustainability in China, providing insight to the theory and application of sustainability science.

The Rural Labor Transfer with Respect to the Development of Farmland Leasing Market: Evidence from Rural China

Since relaxing policy control for farmland leasing, rural labor transfer also arises. The paper estimates the relationship between farmland leasing market and rural labor transfer based on a Double Hurdle Model with the survey data collected from 2793 households in rural China. Results show that the farmland leasing-in scale restrains rural labor transfer mainly in the full-time movement by stimulating the behavior of farmers to plant rice, whereas farmland leasing-out scale, compared to farmland leasing-in scale has an opposite effect on labor transfer, and performs this effect by increasing the likelihood of the desired degree for rural households to do urban business. Specifically, we also find the underlying channels such as the farmers’ desire to the agricultural investment and the Dipiao-ticket transaction through which farmland leasing-in or -out scale affects labor transfer separately. We further find a negative effect of farmland leasing-in scale on household savings and a positive effect of farmland leasing-out scale on that mainly evidently in the group of rural labor transfer. Moreover, farmland leasing-out scale has no significantly influence on the urban life worry of farmers, does not let farmers worry about their urban housing, and does worry about their children’s education. Our study has a deep policy implication on social planners in China to strengthen the systems of the farmland leasing and rural labor transfer.

Work Shifts

This chapter takes a closer look at caregiver/nurse interactions. It includes an analysis of the identities and emotional labor of home health nurses. As professionals who possess valuable disciplinary knowledge, how do they feel about transferring their skills to lay caregivers? Nurses' orientation to the labor and the effects on interactions with caregivers are key features in the labor transfer. Nurses were able to gradually transfer the skilled labor through strategies such as “gently encouraging” or “forcefully 'pushing' ”caregivers to learn, and “if the caring work appeared too difficult or technical, nurses simplified or 'downplayed' these aspects, or they would insist that the caregiver was 'smart enough' to learn.” Nurses often stated that the goal was to make patients and families “independent” in their care. Nurses thus draw heavily on the ability of home care to provide holistic nursing practices. Nurses' focus on patients' physical and emotional health refutes a vision of nurses as purely “ideological workers” — an image that implies an insensitive and coercive nature in the transfer of skills. The relationship between nurses and caregivers is critical for nurses, who identify heavily with the education component of their profession.