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Wang, Qingbin; Wang, H. Holly; Zhang, Junbiao
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0162
This paper traces the timeline and milestones of Chinese graduate students in agricultural economics and related fields at foreign universities, with an emphasis on North American universities, since the early 1980s, and assesses the contributions of Chinese doctoral recipients from foreign universities to agricultural economic research and education in North America and China.Design/methodology/approachData from department and college websites, associations of agricultural economics, university libraries and databases of theses and dissertations and selected agricultural economic journals in English and Chinese are used to attain the above purposes through graphical and bibliometric analyses.FindingsFirst, the numbers of Chinese doctoral recipients and tenure-track and tenured faculty in agricultural economics at North American universities have increased steadily and significantly. Second, Chinese scholars in North America have achieved tremendous success in agricultural economic research via high-quality publications, prestigious awards, editorship of top journals, leadership in professional organizations, etc. Third, more Chinese doctoral recipients overseas have increasingly returned to China and are playing important roles in China’s agricultural economic research, education and international collaboration. Fourth, the publications of overseas Chinese scholars in Chinese journals and those of their counterparts working in China on topics beyond China are relatively limited and more collaboration may enhance the global impacts of Chinese agricultural economists.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited by data availability and quality and the data problems are discussed in the paper.Originality/valueThis is likely the first study to assess the contributions of Chinese doctoral recipients from foreign universities to agricultural economic research and education in China and abroad.
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-11-2020-0262
The purposes of this paper are to analyze the path and speed of rural transformation (RT) and explore the relationship between farmer's income and RT as well as structural transformation (ST) and typology of RT in the past four decades in China.Design/methodology/approachBased on the major indicators of RT and ST, graphic illustration is used to analyze the relationships between these indicators and farmer's income using the time-series and cross-provincial data in 1978–2017.FindingsWhile China has experienced significant RT and ST, the levels and speeds of these transformations differed largely among provinces. Higher and faster RT and ST are often positively associated with the higher and faster growth of rural income. Based on this study, a general typology of rural and structural transformations and rural income is developed. The likely impacts of institutions, policies and investments (IPIs) on RT are discussed.Originality/valueThe authors believe that the findings of this study provide the insights on regional RT and ST and policy implications to increase farmer's income through facilitating and speeding up RT and ST with appropriate IPIs during the rural transformation.
Luo, Renfu; Lyu, Qijia; Rozelle, Scott; Wang, Shun
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-05-2020-0106
This study aims to bridge the gaps in the existing literature by studying the links between children's development and the subjective well-being of the caregivers using first-hand data collected in rural China.Design/methodology/approachAlthough the broad array of literature has examined the effects of child development on the subjective well-being of caregivers, the relationship between early childhood development and caregiver subjective well-being has not been well-studied using sample families with potential developmental delay in rural China. Also, existing research has relied on maternal reports to evaluate the developmental status of children. The study used data collected from 32 townships in seven nationally designated poverty counties in the Qinling mountainous area in 2016. The authors measure child development using the social-emotional module of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development–Third Edition.FindingsThe authors find that child development indicators are correlated with caregiver subjective well-being. In particular, social-emotional skills are positively associated with life evaluations and positive emotion. However, we do not find any significant correlation between child development and negative emotion or depression, anxiety and stress scores.Originality/valueThe value of this study is to report the indicators of child development in rural China and examines the correlation between child development and caregivers' subjective well-being.
Li, Pei; Tian, Ye; Wu, JunJie; Xu, Wenchao
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-07-2020-0175
The purpose of this paper evaluates the effects of the Great Western Development (GWD) policy on agricultural intensification, land use, agricultural production and rural poverty in western China.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect county-level data on land use, input application, grain crop production, income, poverty and geophysical characteristics for 1996–2005 and use a quasi-natural experimental design of difference-in-differences (DD) in the empirical analysis.FindingsResults suggest that the GWD policy significantly increased the grain crop production in western China. This increase resulted from higher yield, with increased fertilizer use and agricultural electricity consumption per hectare, and more land allocated to grow grain crops. The policy also increased land-use concentration, reduced crop diversity and alleviated rural poverty in western China.Originality/valueThis paper makes three contributions. First, the authors add to the growing literature on the GWD policy by evaluating its effects on farm household decisions and exploring the mechanisms and broad socioeconomic impacts in western China. Second, the authors take advantage of a quasi-natural experimental design to improve the identification strategy where input use, land allocation, production and off-farm labor participation are all endogenous in a farm household. Third, the authors explore a long list of variables within one integrated dataset to present a comprehensive picture of the impact of the GWD policy.
Zhang, Tonglong; Huang, Xiaowen; Zhang, Lina; Zhang, Linxiu
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0134
The purpose of this paper is to assess the development of China's rural labor markets and the identification of the important factors that affect rural labor's off-farm employment and migration.Design/methodology/approachBased on a set of long-term panel data, this paper makes a clear judgment on the trend of rural labor transfer. High-quality survey design makes it possible to examine the development of the rural labor market from multiple dimensions. Adding household fixed effects to the empirical model alleviates endogenous problems.FindingsThe authors find that the increasing trend toward off-farm employment, which is dominated by migration, has continued. There are some other important findings: (1). young male workers dominated off-farm employment, but the gap between groups continues to narrow; (2). the structure of employment is a good response to the economic transformation and (3). the quality of off-farm laborers, especially in terms of human capital, has also enhanced significantly and has continued to support off-farm employment and migration. These findings all indicate that the China's rural labor markets have been constantly improving in recent years, although there is still segmentation.Originality/valueIt is the first paper that uses a nationally representative survey data to address the development of rural labor market in the 21st century. With the help of a long-term panel data structure and by controlling the household-level fixed-effect, the authors obtained a deeper and more robust conclusion. Specifically, this article finds that whether it is for the off-farm transfer or the migration, the influence of labor age, gender, human capital and marital status is gradually weakening.
Jin, Shaoze; Huang, Jikun; Waibel, Hermann
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0153
In rural areas, geographic location is key to market access and labor mobility of farm households. This paper aims to investigate the opportunities and constraints of smallholder rubber farmers in southwest China to adjust to the changes in economic and institutional conditions, namely the declining rubber prices, emerging land rental markets and growing off-farm job opportunities.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical basis is a dataset of some 600 rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, collected in March 2015. The study uses instrumental variable and recursive bivariate probit models to account for possible endogeneity and selection bias.FindingsWith rubber prices in decline, the elevation of rubber plantations is an essential factor for the costs of access to the local factor markets and influences farm households' possibilities to adopt coping strategies. Notably, we find a U-shape type of relationship between the location and renting-out land due to the decline in rubber profitability. Rubber producers in low elevations are better bestowed with access to local markets. Households in high elevations, where rubber planting came in later, can shift to new crops like tea. However, the economic resilience of farmers in middle elevations is low due to their higher adjustment costs.Originality/valueThe paper provides a constructive basis for designing more location-specific development policies and can help avoid the past often ineffective blanket measures. Its implications have significant relevance for areas with similar conditions, for example, the remote, ethnic minority–dominated and mountainous rural areas in China.
Qiu, Huanguang; Leng, Ganxiao; Feng, Xiaolong; Yang, Sansi
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0128
This paper aims to examine impacts of the poverty alleviation relocation (PAR) program on diet quality of low-income households in China. We explore the impact mechanism of relocation on diet quality and the heterogeneous effects of different relocation modes.Design/methodology/approachA fixed effects model is constructed using panel data of 1126 low-income households collected over three years in eight provinces of China. The PAR program provides a natural experiment which dramatically changes the living conditions surrounding farmers. We are able to identify the causal effects of relocation on diet quality free from selection bias.FindingsThe empirical results show that the PAR program improves diet quality of low-income households and that better market access and increasing incomes induced by relocation play an important role in this improvement. Improved market access significantly reduces the over-consumption of staple foods, whereas higher income significantly reduces the intake divergences of non-staple foods. The impacts of different relocation modes on diet quality are highly heterogeneous.Practical implicationsOur findings indicate that the PAR program benefits diet quality of low-income households through greater market access and increases in total household income. Market improvements and food subsidies are conducive to improving the diet quality of the low income.Originality/valueDespite widespread evidences of healthy diets being associated with household environments and income, selection bias remains. This paper utilizes an exogenous program to explore the causal impacts of market access and family income on diet quality and to separate their different effects.
Wang, Yiqiu; Porter, Maria; Jin, Songqing
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0148
The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of introducing a health insurance program in rural China between 2004 and 2006, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS).Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply difference in difference and propensity score matching methods (PSM-DID) to a widely used panel dataset, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). Findings are robust across several treatment and comparison groups used in previous NCMS studies.FindingsHouseholds who participated in NCMS increased the use of preventive services and western medicine, while lowering the use of traditional Chinese medicine. NCMS also reduced hospital use, out of pocket payments, travel time to healthcare facilities and waiting time to see doctors. The authors estimate that reductions in travel and waiting time saved roughly 52m U.S. dollars in 2006.Research limitations/implicationsPreviously divergent findings on health insurance effects may be due to researchers studying health insurance across different healthcare delivery systems. In addition, in estimating how health insurance access affects healthcare costs, the authors should consider economic costs related to the time needed to access health services.Originality/valueThe authors study how health insurance access affects patients' choice of providers and economic costs to accessing health care services, outcomes that have not received much attention previously. The authors depart from previous NCMS studies by comparing several different approaches to identifying treatment and control groups when applying PSM-DID.
Guo, Hongdong; Liu, Yehong; Shi, Xinjie; Chen, Kevin Z.
2021 China Agricultural Economic Review
doi: 10.1108/caer-06-2020-0146
The purpose of this study is to investigate e-commerce as a new means to ensure that the urban demand for food can be met during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Because a number of COVID-19 e-commerce models have emerged, this paper discusses whether and (if so) why and how e-commerce can ensure the food supply for urban residents if social distancing becomes a norm and the transport and logistics systems are hindered.Design/methodology/approachThis study used qualitative research methods following the lack of empirical data. The authors referred to relevant literature, statistical data and official reports and comprehensively described the importance of e-commerce in ensuring the safety of food supply to Chinese urban residents under the impact of the epidemic. Corresponding to the traditional case study, this study presented a Chinese case on ensuring food supply through e-commerce during an epidemic.FindingsThe authors found that three e-commerce models played a substantial role in preventing the spread of the epidemic and ensuring the food supply for urban residents. The nationwide e-commerce platforms under market leadership played their roles by relying on the sound infrastructure of large cities and its logistics system was vulnerable to the epidemic. In the worst-affected areas, particularly in closed and isolated communities, the local e-commerce model was the primary model, supplemented by the unofficial e-commerce model based on social relations. Through online booking, centralized procurement and community distribution, the risk of cross infection could be effectively reduced and the food demand could be effectively satisfied. The theoretical explanation further verifies that, apart from e-commerce, a governance system that integrates the government, e-commerce platform, community streets and the unofficial guanxi also impels the success of these models.Originality/valueLessons from China are drawn for other countries struggling to deliver food to those in need under COVID-19. The study not only provides a solution that will ensure constant food supply to urban residents under the COVID-19 epidemic but also provides some reference for the maintenance of the food system of urban residents under the impact of a globalization-related crisis in future.
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