Search Results (8)

A Kuznets-like curve for unemployment suggests that unemployment initially rises with early economic development due to sectoral shifts but decreases as economies mature, diversify, and adapt. This explains how gross national income (GNI) per capita influences or mediates the effect of globalization on unemployment. This study investigates the impact of the interaction between GNI per capita and economic globalization on unemployment rates in 158 countries from 1991 to 2019 using the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and a weight matrix based on cultural, political, social, language, and historical backgrounds and trade pacts (CPSLHT) for better estimates. The results indicate that the direct and indirect effects of gross domestic product (GDP) on unemployment are negative and significant in the short and long term. Population growth positively and significantly impacts unemployment, while female labor force participation shows negative and significant indirect effects. The net migration effect is negative but insignificant in the overall model and becomes significant in the decomposed globalization models. The direct and indirect effects of inflation were consistently negative and significant. Trade openness exerts a significant indirect negative effect on unemployment, while the interaction between GNI per capita and economic globalization, especially through trade and foreign direct investment, also reduces unemployment. Persistent unemployment and spatial spillover effects highlight the importance of regional cooperation. Controlling population growth, enhancing GDP growth, permitting mild inflation, promoting female workforce participation, and adopting effective migration policies can reduce global unemployment. Full article

Although collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) has improved the legal tenure security of forestland, its impact on increasing farmers’ income is unsustainable. This study used a multiple linear regression model to empirically analyze data from 505 farmers in Jiangxi Province, examining the impact of legal, actual, and perceived tenure security on rural household income, and incorporating migration into the framework. The findings indicate that both actual and perceived tenure security have a substantial positive impact on the total rural household income and forestry income. However, it is worth noting that legal tenure security only has a positive effect on forestry income. Furthermore, outside-of-county labor migration can serve as a mediator for the income effects of actual and perceived tenure security. However, the mediating effect of intra-county labor migration is not considerable. The study found that the increase in income due to the security of actual tenure security is significant for the group of people who own less than 50 mu of forestland. However, both actual and perceived tenure security have a significant impact on income for the group of people who own more than 50 mu of forestland. The aforementioned findings indicate that, in the ongoing extensive advancement of collective forest right reform, it is crucial to prioritize the execution of forest reform policies at the local level and enhance farmers’ awareness and comprehension of said policies. In addition, the government should enhance the monitoring system for policy implementation and intensify efforts in publicizing these policies, in order to fully utilize the benefits of CFTR. Full article

Malnutrition remains a critical global health challenge, especially in rural areas, where it significantly impacts the health and economic stability of households. This study explores (1) the relationship between labor migration and dietary protein intake in households remaining in economically disadvantaged rural regions and (2) the influence of remittance income, farm earnings, self-produced food, and changes in family size due to migration on their dietary protein. Panel data were collected through a three-wave household survey of 1368 rural households across six counties in the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Shaanxi during 2012, 2015, and 2018. Employing a two-way fixed effects model, we found that labor migration positively affects the protein consumption of families left behind. The mediated effects model indicated that decreases in family size had the most significant impact on protein intake, with a value of 8.714, accounting for 0.729 of the total effect; followed by the mediating effect through crop income, at 2.579, representing 0.216 of the total effect; and livestock income, at 0.772, contributing 0.073 of the total effect. However, the mediating effects of remittance income and self-production were found to be insignificant. In conclusion, our study found that migration improves protein intake primarily through increased crop and livestock production and decreased family size. These results highlight the critical role of family structure and farm productivity in enhancing the nutrition of families affected by labor migration, offering valuable insights for policymakers. Full article

This study uses field survey data from 382 families in the year 2020 in Jiangxi province, China, to explore the effects of land lease and labor migration, a well-known occurrence in China, on rural households’ multidimensional poverty status. We used the A-F method to measure the household’s multidimensional poverty in terms of health, education, income, living standard, and social relations. The Bootstrap Test approach, which worked well with our data, was used to build our mediating effect models while taking into account the influence mechanisms of land leasing and multidimensional poverty. According to our findings, 76.70% of sample homes experience multidimensional poverty at the threshold of 0.33. The reduction of multidimensional poverty is significantly aided by both leasing in and leasing out land. Land lease out and land lease in, however, have asymmetrical effects on multidimensional poverty alleviation, with the proportion of land lease out being 1.147 without control variables and the proportion of land lease in being 0.969 without control variables. Land lease in and lease out have positive effects on the multifaceted alleviation of poverty due to the mediating effect of labor migration. For policymakers to develop and put into action more relevant policies to help multidimensional poverty alleviation, our analysis offers critical insights. Full article

Due to the growing trend of rural labor migration, farmers’ labor allocation under the condition of constant time endowment has gradually become a key factor in the transformation of green agricultural production methods. Using the propensity score matching method, this paper verified the influence of labor migration on citrus growers’ fertilizer application using 814 survey data from Sichuan Province, China. The study found that the boosting effect of capacity accumulation brought on by farmers’ labor migration was greater than the weakening effect of labor constraints and that the average chemical fertilizer application per acre decreased from 6.95 to 6.74 after farmers’ labor migration, a 3.06 percent decrease. Second, labor migration reduces chemical fertilizer application by allowing farmers to acquire knowledge and technology for green agricultural production and to increase off-farm income. Third, the choice of labor migration by farmers with higher agricultural incomes and younger ages promotes a reduction in their chemical fertilizer application. Therefore, this paper makes the following suggestions: the government should appropriately guide farmers in their labor migration decisions, increase public awareness of green agricultural knowledge and technology, and encourage farmers to to invest their off-farm income in green production. Farmers with higher agricultural income and younger ages, in particular, should be encouraged to choose labor migration and train to become new agricultural business entities. Full article

The health shocks caused by air pollution seriously interfere with people’s economic life. Based on the air pollution index and health shock index calculated by the principal component entropy weight method, this article analyzes the impact of air pollution on labor mobility, and adopts the mediation effect model to test the mediation effect of health shocks, using the threshold model to analyze the time and the health shocks threshold effect of air pollution on labor mobility. Its conclusions are as follows: (1) Air pollution has a negative impact on the net inflow of labor mobility, and the net inflow of labor mobility decreases between 24.9% and 44.7% on average for each unit increase in the health shocks of air pollution. (2) The impact of air pollution on labor mobility is all caused by health shocks; the health shocks are also an important factor influencing the decrease in the labor mobility supply across provinces, and the different health levels of the migrating individuals due to air pollution. (3) The health shocks of air pollution have a single-time threshold effect on labor mobility, and the health shocks of air pollution in China have intensified after 2010, confirming that China’s Lewis turning point was 2010. (4) The attraction effect of stable and higher regional real income will partially offset the repulsion effect of health shocks of air pollution on labor mobility, when the health-shocks index of air pollution exceeds the threshold value of 1.9873. Finally, the policy implications of the health shocks of air pollution on labor mobility are also formulated. Full article

In recent years, air pollution has received serious concerns from researchers, media, and the public sectors, but air pollution from agricultural production activities has not received enough attention. This paper focuses on agricultural air pollution in central China, which is aggravated by the ongoing rural labor migration trend. With a set of panel data released from Hubei and Hunan provinces in China, we adopt the mediating effect model to explore the relationship between rural labor migration and air pollution caused by agricultural activity in China. First, we use the inventory analysis method and principal component analysis method to calculate the comprehensive index of the air pollution of agriculture in 152 counties and districts from Hubei and Hunan provinces, and we empirically test the impact of labor migration on air pollution with a mediating effect model as well as carry out regional heterogeneity analysis on the pollution effect of these two provinces mentioned above. The analysis above indicates that the increase of labor migration has intensified the comprehensive index of air pollution caused by agricultural activity by changing the supply of labor force in the agricultural sector, the budget line of rural residents, and the scale of agricultural production and crop planting structure, but there is a difference in the indirect total effect between the two provinces mentioned above according to our regional heterogeneity analysis. This study is a necessary extension to studies on alleviating and controlling air pollution in China. Full article

Since the 1978 economic reform, China has undergone a historical process of rapid urbanization. Although this process has been recognized as a key factor in the development of sustainable growth in China, low quality rural labor continues to limit the effectiveness of the country’s urbanization. Our study uses a spatial analysis framework to explore how the education level of rural laborers moderates the effect of urbanization on economic growth with provincial data collected from 1996 to 2015. Our results reveal that the influence of population urbanization on sustainable growth is mediated by the improvement of consumption capacity of urban dwellers and the industrial structural changes. The education level of rural laborers adjusts the urbanization’s influence on the consumption capacity of residents, which further affects economic growth. Empirical evidence indicates that the educationally limited rural population negatively moderates the impact of urbanization on sustainable economic growth by restraining the consumption capacity of migrating rural labor. It is also found that in some provinces with less-qualified rural labor, such as Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai, population urbanization has not contributed to a corresponding economic growth, indicating that these provinces may have undergone urbanization without growth. These findings suggest that basic education is critical to the growth of income and consumption capacities of rural labor when laborers are migrating to urban areas. To achieve a valid urbanization process and sustainable growth, state and local governments must improve the basic education scheme, especially the nine-year compulsory education in Chinese rural areas through public financial investment and policy support. Full article