Labor Off-Farm Employment and Cropland Abandonment in Rural China: Spatial Distribution and Empirical Analysis
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- (1)
- From a spatial perspective, what is the distribution of off-farm labor and cropland abandonment in rural China?
- (2)
- From a quantitative perspective, does off-farm employment inevitably result in cropland abandonment?
2. Theoretical Analyses
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Data Source
3.2. Econometric Method
3.3. Variable Design
3.3.1. Dependent Variables
3.3.2. Focal Variables
3.3.3. Control Variables
4. Results
4.1. Spatial Distribution Analysis
4.2. Empirical Analysis
4.2.1. Off-Farm Employment Impacts Behavior of Cropland Abandonment (IV-Probit)
4.2.2. Off-Farm Employment Effects Area of Cropland Abandonment (IV-Tobit)
4.2.3. Labor Off-Farm Employment Does Not Inevitably Result in Cropland Abandonment
4.2.4. Robustness Checks
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
- (1)
- The spatial distribution of off-farm employment and cropland abandonment differs among regions. A region with a higher ratio of off-farm employment shows more cropland abandonment but a lower average area of cropland abandonment.
- (2)
- Off-farm labor has a significant and positive correlation with cropland abandonment. However, its square shows a significant and negative correlation with cropland abandonment; i.e., there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between off-farm employment and cropland abandonment, with the turning point occurring at 46.00% off-farm employment.
- (3)
- Off-farm employment has a significant and positive correlation with the area of cropland abandonment. However, its square has a significant and negative correlation with the area; i.e., there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between off-farm employment and area, with the turning point occurring at 44.50% off-farm employment.
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variables | Definition and Assignment | Mean | S.D. c |
---|---|---|---|
Dependent variables | |||
Abandonment | Whether rural households abandon cropland (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.12 | 0.32 |
Abandonment size | The area of cropland abandonment in rural households (mu a) | 0.33 | 1.65 |
Focal variable | |||
Off-farm employment | The share of off-farm employment laborers in total laborers (%) | 0.40 | 0.39 |
Householder variables | |||
Age | Age of household head in years (year) | 53.80 | 13.20 |
Education | Whether householder has received a high school diploma or above (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.12 | 0.32 |
Household variables | |||
Land area | Managing land area of rural households (mu a) | 5.72 | 9.60 |
Land right | Whether rural households get the land confirmation certificate (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.41 | 0.49 |
Land rent-out | Whether there is rent-out land in rural households (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.69 | 0.46 |
Old | The number of people over 64 years old engaged in agricultural production (number) | 0.15 | 0.46 |
Labor size | Total labor force of rural households (number) | 2.74 | 1.60 |
Distance | Distance from households to the nearest business center (km) | 7.12 | 9.18 |
Agricultural assets | Per capita of current market value of all the agricultural assets that a household possesses (104 Yuan b/person) | 0.08 | 0.53 |
Fixed assets | Per capita of current market value of all the fixed assets that a household possesses (104 Yuan b/person) | 4.32 | 16.75 |
Plain | Whether households are located on a plain (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.41 | 0.49 |
Hill | Whether households are located on a hill (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.34 | 0.47 |
Mountain | Whether households are located on a mountain (0 = no; 1 = yes) | 0.25 | 0.43 |
Variables | Model (1) | Model (2) | Model (3) | Model (4) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Off-farm employment | 0.0646 *** | 0.0637 *** | 0.0758 *** | 0.0184 *** |
(0.0040) | (0.0076) | (0.0056) | (0.0016) | |
Off-farm employment2 | −0.0007 *** | −0.0007 *** | −0.0008 *** | −0.0002 *** |
(0.0000) | (0.0001) | (0.0001) | (0.0000) | |
Age | −0.0325 *** | −0.0079 *** | ||
(0.0068) | (0.0017) | |||
Age2 | 0.0004 *** | 0.0001 *** | ||
(0.0001) | (0.0000) | |||
Education | 0.0293 | 0.0071 | ||
(0.0496) | (0.0120) | |||
Land area | 0.0026 * | 0.0006 * | ||
(0.0014) | (0.0003) | |||
Land right | −0.0268 | −0.0065 | ||
(0.0333) | (0.0081) | |||
Land rent-out | −0.3089 *** | −0.0750 *** | ||
(0.0475) | (0.0106) | |||
Old | −0.0085 | −0.0021 | ||
(0.0351) | (0.0085) | |||
Labor size | −0.1769 *** | −0.0429 *** | ||
(0.0198) | (0.0053) | |||
Distance | 0.0013 | 0.0003 | ||
(0.0017) | (0.0004) | |||
Fixed assets | −0.0297 * | −0.0072 * | ||
(0.0173) | (0.0042) | |||
Agricultural assets | −0.2034 * | −0.0494 * | ||
(0.1058) | (0.0256) | |||
Hill | 0.0750 * | 0.0182 * | ||
(0.0453) | (0.0109) | |||
Mountain | 0.1260 ** | 0.0306 ** | ||
(0.0503) | (0.0121) | |||
Constant | −1.2225 *** | −1.3527 *** | −0.1847 | |
(0.0395) | (0.2190) | (0.2646) | ||
Province dummies | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Endogenous Wald χ2 | 436.64 *** | 183.69 *** | 676.25 *** | 676.25 *** |
Observations | 8031 | 8031 | 8031 | 8031 |
Variables | Model (1) | Model (2) | Model (3) | Model (4) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Off-farm employment | 0.7209 *** | 0.5467 *** | 0.7129 *** | 0.0178 *** |
(0.0590) | (0.0738) | (0.0845) | (0.0013) | |
Off-farm employment2 | −0.0080 *** | −0.0059 *** | −0.0076 *** | −0.0002 *** |
(0.0007) | (0.0009) | (0.0010) | (0.0000) | |
Age | −0.3035 *** | −0.0076 *** | ||
(0.0704) | (0.0017) | |||
Age2 | 0.0034 *** | 0.0001 *** | ||
(0.0006) | (0.0000) | |||
Education | 0.3087 | 0.0077 | ||
(0.5574) | (0.0138) | |||
Land area | 0.0758 *** | 0.0019 *** | ||
(0.0218) | (0.0005) | |||
Land right | −0.4077 | −0.0102 | ||
(0.3233) | (0.0080) | |||
Land rent-out | −2.8267 *** | −0.0707 *** | ||
(0.3875) | (0.0095) | |||
Old | −0.0859 | −0.0021 | ||
(0.3382) | (0.0085) | |||
Labor size | −1.5602 *** | −0.0390 *** | ||
(0.2132) | (0.0040) | |||
Distance | 0.0143 | 0.0004 | ||
(0.0166) | (0.0004) | |||
Fixed assets | −0.3719 ** | −0.0093 ** | ||
(0.1718) | (0.0043) | |||
Agricultural assets | −3.0541 ** | −0.0764 *** | ||
(1.2333) | (0.0291) | |||
Hill | 0.3120 | 0.0078 | ||
(0.4327) | (0.0107) | |||
Mountain | 0.2234 | 0.0056 | ||
(0.4777) | (0.0119) | |||
Constant | −12.4638 *** | −12.3135 *** | −3.1040 | |
(0.7721) | (1.8446) | (2.8156) | ||
Province dummies | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Endogenous Wald χ2 | 856.33 *** | 276.69 *** | 697.48 *** | 697.48 *** |
Observations | 8031 | 8031 | 8031 | 8031 |
Variables | Behavior of Cropland Abandonment | Area of Cropland Abandonment | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Model (1) | Model (2) | Model (3) | Model (4) | |
Off-farm employment | 0.0788 *** | 0.0768 *** | 0.8636 *** | 1.3886 *** |
(0.0032) | (0.0017) | (0.1036) | (0.1349) | |
Off-farm employment2 | −0.0008 *** | −0.0008 *** | −0.0093 *** | −0.0144 *** |
(0.0000) | (0.0000) | (0.0011) | (0.0014) | |
Control variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Province dummies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Endogenous Wald χ2 | 785.62 *** | 386.41 *** | 1300.00 *** | 179.62 *** |
Observations | 3266 | 7996 | 3266 | 7996 |
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Deng, X.; Xu, D.; Qi, Y.; Zeng, M. Labor Off-Farm Employment and Cropland Abandonment in Rural China: Spatial Distribution and Empirical Analysis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1808. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091808
Deng X, Xu D, Qi Y, Zeng M. Labor Off-Farm Employment and Cropland Abandonment in Rural China: Spatial Distribution and Empirical Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15(9):1808. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091808
Chicago/Turabian StyleDeng, Xin, Dingde Xu, Yanbin Qi, and Miao Zeng. 2018. "Labor Off-Farm Employment and Cropland Abandonment in Rural China: Spatial Distribution and Empirical Analysis" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 9: 1808. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091808