Search Results (6)

Although natural resources and geographical factors limit herders’ employment options, the development of digital rural helps herding households compete on an equal footing by expanding employment opportunities. Using survey data collected from 2790 herder households in 26 counties across Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Tibet from 2023 to 2025, this study examines the relationship between county-level digital rural development and non-farm employment. We find that digital rural development is positively associated with the likelihood that household heads engage primarily in non-farm employment. This finding remains stable across a series of robustness and endogeneity checks. Moreover, the positive association is weaker in areas with a larger primary-industry base and among households engaged in forage cultivation, suggesting that local production structures and household labor commitments constrain the conversion of digital opportunities into employment diversification. Further analysis indicates that digital finance and digital consumption are two potential channels through which digital rural development supports non-farm employment. These findings highlight that the employment benefits of digital development depend not only on digital access but also on the flexibility of household labor allocation and the availability of non-farm opportunities in pastoral areas. Full article

Amid the dual pressures of ecological conservation and livelihood sustainability on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, investigating the economic effects of herders’ adaptation strategies holds practical relevance. Focusing on grass-based livestock husbandry, this study examines 327 pastoral households in Xinghai County, Qinghai Province, using endogenous switching regression models to empirically analyze the determinants, economic effects, and underlying mechanisms of herders’ production transformation. The main contribution is providing new empirical evidence for understanding herders’ adaptive strategies and informing policy design. The findings reveal that: (1) Transformation decisions are rational choices shaped by household resource endowments. Households with more labor and larger pasture areas are more likely to transform, while non-pastoral employment partially substitutes for such transformation. (2) Production transformation significantly increases herders’ pastoral income. Under the counterfactual framework, the income enhancement effect amounts to 21,509.08 Yuan for the transformed group and 741.30 Yuan for the non-transformed group. Income growth in the transformed group mainly stems from specialized livestock production, whereas the non-transformed group relies more on gradual improvements and policy compensation. (3) Production transformation promotes large-scale breeding without affecting livestock mortality rates. Efficiency gains from transformation are significant only for the transformed group; forcing non-transformers to adopt transformation under current endowments may lead to efficiency losses. These findings suggest that the government should prioritize supporting herders with both the capacity and willingness to transform, address barriers faced by vulnerable groups, and emphasize productivity enhancement and moderate-scale operations to facilitate sustainable income growth. Full article

Under the condition of different endowment factors of herders and imperfect market mechanisms, grassland transfer can promote the redistribution and rational utilization of grassland resources, which has a crucial impact on herders’ livelihood. This study fully examined how the grassland rental market improves herders’ income and to what extent, using unbalanced panel data with 560 herder households in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau pastoral areas. A fixed effect model was used as the baseline model. The instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching method were utilized to address the endogeneity problem and sample selection bias. Finally, the mediating effect model was used to analyze the path mechanism of grassland transfer in/out on herder income. The results showed that the total household income increased significantly after participating in grassland transfer. Grassland rent-in increased livestock income, and grassland rent-out increased non-livestock income. After correcting for the selection bias, the income effect of grassland transfer became larger. The grassland rent-in increased the livestock income by promoting production investment. Grassland rent-out increased the non-livestock income by promoting non-pastoral employment. Full article

The adoption of livestock husbandry technologies has been an important factor affecting the welfare of herders and the efficiency of grazing-based livestock production and grassland protection in China’s pastoral areas. The small-scale herder is the main body of grassland-based grazing husbandry, and so technology adoption is particularly important, though it is currently scarce. To identify the factors influencing technology adoption behavior by Chinese herders, especially its effect on the scale of livestock sales and non-pastoral employment (NPE), we conducted a survey in the Gansu and Qinghai provinces of China with a sample of 296 herder households. The results show that the scale of livestock sale promotes the adoption of technology, while non-pastoral employment has a generally negative effect. In detail, the substitution effect of NPE is positive, but the wealth effect is negative. In addition, NPE and its wealth effect have moderating effects that can enhance the effect of the sales scale on the adoption of herders’ technology. After distinguishing the technologies into profit-seeking technology and pro-environmental technology, we found that NPE and its substitution effect have a significant influence on pro-environmental technology, while the wealth effect has a significant impact on both profit-seeking and pro-environmental technology. Environmental awareness and altruism also have significant positive impacts on pro-environmental technology. These findings are relevant to policy implications dealing with technology adoption in pastoral areas. Full article

This paper investigates occupational gender inequality among head clergy in U.S. religious congregations. Prior research emphasized the stratification of the clergy occupational structure and the under-representation of women in head clergy positions. This paper focuses on women who are leading congregations. Data are from the National Congregations Study (1998, 2006, and 2012). I review the representation of women among head clergy, investigate the differences in congregational characteristics between those led by men and women, and explore whether men or women are more likely to have positions with non-standard employment forms. Findings show a mixed picture regarding equality for women clergy. By 2012, while women are still less likely than men to be head clergy, among head clergy there is not a significant difference between women and men in the likelihood of being a senior pastor (supervising other clergy). Also, there are no significant differences related to non-standard employment. The only significant congregational member characteristic is that women are more likely to lead predominantly white congregations. However, in 1998, 2006, and 2012, women were consistently significantly more likely than men to lead smaller congregations. While there may be few other differences between men and women head clergy job statuses, congregation size is arguably what matters most. Women’s lack of representation in larger congregations suggests continued gender inequality among head clergy. Full article

Farmland is the most basic material condition for guaranteeing rural livelihoods and national food security, and exploring management strategies that take both stable rural livelihoods and sustainable farmland use into account has vital significance in theory and practice. Farmland is a complex and self-adaptive system that couples human and natural systems, and natural and social factors that are related to its changing process need to be considered when modeling farmland changing processes. This paper uses Qianjingou Town in the Inner Mongolian farming–pastoral zone as a study area. From the perspective of the relationship between household livelihood and farmland use, this study establishes the process mechanism of farmland use change based on questionnaire data, and constructs a multi-agent simulation model of farmland use change using the Eclipse and Repast toolbox. Through simulating the relationship between natural factors (including geographical location) and household behavior, this paper systematically simulates household farmland abandonment and rent behaviors, and accurately describes the dynamic interactions between household livelihoods and the factors related to farmland use change. These factors include natural factors (net primary productivity, road accessibility, slope and relief amplitude) and social factors (household family structures, economic development and government policies). Ultimately, this study scientifically predicts the future farmland use change trend in the next 30 years. The simulation results show that the number of abandoned and sublet farmland plots has a gradually increasing trend, and the number of non-farming households and pure-outworking households has a remarkable increasing trend, whereas the number of part-farming households and pure-farming households has a decreasing trend. Household livelihood sustainability in the study area is confronted with increasing pressure, and household non-farm employment has an increasing trend, while regional appropriate-scale agricultural management is maintained. The research results establish the theoretical foundation and a basic method for developing sustainable farmland use management that can meet the willingness of households and guarantee grain and ecological security. Full article