Rural-Urban Migration and its Effect on Land Transfer in Rural China

Labor force rural-urban migration will lead to changes to the land use patterns of farmers. Using the survey data on dynamic migration of the Chinese labor force in 2014, iv-probit and iv-tobit models were used to analyze the impact of labor migration on the land transfer of farmers. The results show that: (1) Off-farm employment would significantly impact land transfer of farmers and the results are robust. With every 10% increase in the proportion of off-farm employment of farmers, the average probability of rent-in land of farmers decreases by 1.55%, and the average transfer in land area of farmers decreased by 1.04%. Similarly, with every 10% increase in the proportion of off-farm employment of farmers, the average probability of rent-out land of farmers increases by 4.77%, and the average transfer out land area of farmers increases by 3.98%. (2) Part-time employment also has a significant impact on land transfer of farmers, but the impact of part-time employment on land transfer in is not robust. Specifically, with every 10% increase in part-farm employment, the average probability of rent-out land of farmers increases by 7.64%, and the average transfer out land area of farmers increases by 6.85%.