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Article
Publication date: 27 January 2012

Jikun Huang, Liangliang Gao and Scott Rozelle

Developing nations need good cultivated land rental markets to foster rational resource use and to enhance productivity and equity. Can cultivated land rental markets emerge in…

1065

Abstract

Purpose

Developing nations need good cultivated land rental markets to foster rational resource use and to enhance productivity and equity. Can cultivated land rental markets emerge in the face of rapidly developing off‐farm labor markets? The purpose of this paper is to measure the correlation between the emergence of off‐farm employment and cultivated land rental in China.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a panel data from 2000 and 2008, the authors constructed econometric models to identify the impact of off‐farm employment on the decisions of households to rent out and rent in cultivated land.

Findings

This paper finds that the emergence of off‐farm employment has significant and positive impacts on stimulating household to rent out cultivated land. The effect is less prominent for renting‐in decisions.

Originality/value

The paper empirically estimates the impacts of off‐farm employment on cultivated land rent markets based on a unique panel data set from a national representative sample.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 September 2020

Tongwei Qiu, Qinying He, S.T. Boris Choy, Yifei Li and Biliang Luo

This study investigates the effect of renting in land on farm productivity, and the impacts of rented-in land size and transaction partner type on farm productivity.

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the effect of renting in land on farm productivity, and the impacts of rented-in land size and transaction partner type on farm productivity.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey are analyzed using an extended regression model and the two-stage least squares method.

Findings

Farm households that rent in land are likely to achieve higher farm productivity, and ignoring endogeneity underestimates the positive effect of land renting-in. Further evidence indicates that rented-in land size has an insignificant impact on farm productivity, and that there is no difference in farm productivity between lessees renting-in land from acquaintances and those renting-in land from non-acquaintances. These results may be caused by the higher degree of marketization of land rentals between acquaintances in China. With increasing competition in agricultural factor markets, in theory, rented-in land size should not affect farm productivity.

Practical implications

Overall, the analysis suggests that renting in land improves farm productivity, which supports the land transfer policies that have been rolled out in recent decades in China. However, our finding that rented land size does not affect farm productivity, consistent with the results in the literature, implies that the Chinese government should no longer subsidize or prefer large farms with low productivity. More attention should be paid to small lessees and market-oriented land rentals between acquaintances. Promoting the marketization of land transfers inside acquaintance networks could realize the potential of the land market, especially if land transfers decrease.

Originality/value

This study identifies the effects of renting in land, rented-in land size and type of rental transaction partner on farm productivity using nationally representative data. The findings imply that the government should pay more attention to the marketization of land rentals between acquaintances. Although existing studies regard land rental between acquaintances as informal and of low efficiency, the recent evidence shows that China's land markets are changing, and policy makers should adjust their policies accordingly.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 April 2023

Eva Seewald, Samantha Baerthel and Trung Thanh Nguyen

This study aims to investigate whether the participation in land rental markets helps to mitigate impacts by climate change on multidimensional poverty in Thailand and Vietnam.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate whether the participation in land rental markets helps to mitigate impacts by climate change on multidimensional poverty in Thailand and Vietnam.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use precipitation data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and self-reported shocks from the Thailand Vietnam Socio-Economic Panel (TVSEP) project to estimate climate change. Data from the TVSEP are also used to calculate a multidimensional poverty index (MPI). Fixed-effect logit panel regressions with interaction terms are implemented to analyze the above mentioned.

Findings

The results show that land rental markets are used as mitigation strategies to climate change in Thailand and Vietnam. The participation in land rental markets also reduces multidimensional poverty. However, as a mitigation strategy, land rental markets are only successful in certain circumstances.

Research limitations/implications

The results show that there is potential in using land rental markets as mitigation strategies to climate change. Further research is needed to better understand which adaptation strategies, besides land rental market participation, and which combinations of different adaptation strategies are successful to mitigate negative effects induced by climate change.

Practical implications

The results show that there is potential in using land rental markets as mitigation strategies to climate change. Therefore, education in the participation in land rental markets and how to use them as a mitigation strategy can be a way to increase households' resilience to negative effects induced by climate change. Households make better decisions regarding their land when they are better informed on the functionality of land rental markets. Additionally, being better informed increases self-confidence to participate in land-rental markets.

Originality/value

Land rental markets as a mitigation strategy to climate change rarely have been studied, and if so, mainly the effect of leasing land has been studied. Additionally, the authors implement new measures of poverty – a multidimensional view on poverty which provides new insights into who are the poor and how they can be lift out of poverty.

Details

Journal of Economics and Development, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1859-0020

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Jianying Wang, Kevin Z. Chen, Sunipa Das Gupta and Zuhui Huang

The farm size-productivity relationship has long been the subject of debate among development economists. Few studies address this issue for China, and those that do only with…

1030

Abstract

Purpose

The farm size-productivity relationship has long been the subject of debate among development economists. Few studies address this issue for China, and those that do only with outdated data sets poorly representing the current situation after the past decade of rapid change, which includes the rapid development of land rental markets, village labor out-migration and use of farm machines. Meanwhile, many studies have researched this relationship for Indian, which is undergoing similar changes except for the development of active land rental markets. The purpose of this paper is to measure the farm size-productivity relationship under the situations of rapid transformation in China and India.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the data of 325 Jiangxi and 400 Allahabad rice farmers in 2011, the survey covered multiple plots of each household in one/multiple growing season(s). The authors use the production function approach and the yield approach, and control for farmland quality, imperfect factor markets, and farm size measurement error, to identify the farm size-productivity relationship.

Findings

The regressions show that land yields increase with plot size both by season and over the year in China. This may be one of the reasons that farm sizes are growing in some areas. In India, however, the inverse farm size-productivity relationship is observed by the study, despite recent changes. Moreover, land yields increase with farm machine use in both China and India. This result contributes to the debate over whether mechanization improves yields or just expands the land frontier.

Originality/value

The paper empirically estimates the farm size-productivity relationship under rapid agrarian transformation in both China and India based on a unique data set collected by the authors in a detailed primary survey. The paper considers measurement error in the analysis, which adds values to this type of analysis.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2016

Yi Che

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of off-farm labor employments on household land rental behavior in rural China.

1052

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of off-farm labor employments on household land rental behavior in rural China.

Design/methodology/approach

IV-Probit and IV-Tobit model are used to identify the estimate of interest.

Findings

The results indicate that households with more members participating in either migration or local off-farm work are more/less likely to rent out/in land. Moreover, the effect of migration on household land rental behavior is much larger than the effect of local off-farm work.

Practical implications

These results suggest that ensuring benefits of migrants in urban cities can automatically promote household land rental behavior in rural China.

Originality/value

The authors provide a rigorous and careful empirical analysis on the effect of off-farm employment on household land rental behavior and pay special attention to the endogeneity issue tackled using separable instruments.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 September 2019

Tongwei Qiu, Biliang Luo, Shangpu Li and Qinying He

The purpose of this paper is to assess the links between basic farmland preservation and land transfers in rural China.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the links between basic farmland preservation and land transfers in rural China.

Design/methodology/approach

The Chinese provincial panel data from 2006 to 2016 were analyzed with the use of Arellano–Bond linear dynamic panel data estimations.

Findings

The basic farmland preservation policy negatively affects the land transfer rate. In addition, this policy is most likely to limit land transfers between local acquaintances in the major grain-producing areas. Further evidence indicates that the basic farmland preservation policy has a negative impact on land rentals in general. Considering that land transfers such as exchanges and take-overs are excluded from rental transactions between acquaintances, the policy’s constraints on land use are likely to hinder land rentals between acquaintances, which are market-oriented.

Practical implications

Overall, this study’s analysis suggests that the farmland preservation policy’s constraints on land use rights are likely to result in a major diminishment of the rural rental markets. Under this policy, land that is designated as basic farmland cannot be converted to another use. However, it remains possible to improve the productivity of agriculture through other means. These possible avenues for improvement include enhancing the efficiency of production through expanding the scale of farming operations and developing the social services aspect of agriculture (i.e. the basic farmland preservation policy is likely to realize more social revenue than can be gained from land transfers). Thus, the arrangement of the basic farmland preservation policy in China can be managed in a way that is both economical and reasonable.

Originality/value

To ensure food security, China has enacted several laws and regulations to preserve basic farmland, and it has promoted land transfers to improve farm productivity. Therefore, it is important to understand whether the basic farmland preservation policy restricts land use rights and hinders land transfers that could improve productivity. This study provides empirical evidence showing that the basic farmland preservation policy is actually not conducive to promoting land transfers and that it even discourages the market orientation of land rentals between acquaintances. In dealing with this issue, the Chinese Government should seek to balance the relationship between preserving basic farmland and promoting land transfers.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 October 2020

Qian Wang, Fan Li, Jin Yu, Luuk Fleskens and Coen J. Ritsema

This study examines the heterogeneous correlations between rural farmers' land renting behavior and their grain production when they experienced a significant price decline.

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the heterogeneous correlations between rural farmers' land renting behavior and their grain production when they experienced a significant price decline.

Design/methodology/approach

We used well-timed panel data obtained from a two-round survey held in 2013 and 2017 among 621 households in the North China Plain. The empirical analyses were conducted by using the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed effects models.

Findings

Rural tenants were having heterogeneous responses in land renting behavior and agricultural production when there was a price decline. A group of optimistic tenants (as professional farmers) were more likely to enlarge the farm scale for grain production through land rental markets but decrease variable investment levels (and subsequently decreased productivity) to cope with price decline. In contrast, nonprofessional farmers (the other rural tenants) were rather pessimistic about market performance, and they significantly decreased their grain production area to cope the price decline, but there was no decrease in grain productivity through reducing variable inputs.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the extant literature on the relationship between farmers' land renting-in behavior and agricultural production. By dividing the tenants into professional and nonprofessional farmers, we argue that there is a significant heterogeneous correlation between rural tenants' land renting behavior and grain production when farmers experience a price decline.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1977

RICHARD E. BERNSTIEN and ROBERT H. DEANS

In the land reform literature an important issue has been the effect land redistribution has on the allocation of resources and agricultural productivity. Generally, monopolistic…

Abstract

In the land reform literature an important issue has been the effect land redistribution has on the allocation of resources and agricultural productivity. Generally, monopolistic behaviour of plantation owners with respect to land has prevailed since control of the land has generated monopsonistic power with respect to labour. This behaviour would result in a lesser degree of land utilization by large land owners and a lower value of marginal product for labour on small farms than on large farms. The rural labour force is effectively left with no options for employment other than the plantation sector. The monopolization of land causes a higher land/labour ratio for large operations than for small farmers. In a competitive market with tillable land held constant, the value of marginal product for labour for the two farm classes would be equal. Further, monopsony theory reveals that output and employment would be lower than in a competitive market.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Article
Publication date: 28 August 2009

Biliang Luo and Bo Fu

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the institutional evolution of China's farmland property rights deformity with its internal logic, analyze its property rights deformity…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the institutional evolution of China's farmland property rights deformity with its internal logic, analyze its property rights deformity and the invasions of these rights under the family operation background, and puts forward fundamental suggestions for reforming farmland property rights in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept of “public domain” raised by Barzel in 1989 is used and extended to analyze China's farmland system.

Findings

There exist five sorts of public domain and two apparent characteristics of property rights deformity: the unclear final controlling rights for some valuable attributes of goods of the “public domain”; and the “public domain” deliberately created by the government. The public domain caused by technical factors and owner's real capability are herein excluded.

Originality/value

China's past and present farmland system is a result of the government's compulsory system arrangements instead of market evolution. The expansion of public domains III and V has directly shrunk peasants' residual property rights. The concept of “public domain” is developed to reveal the essence of China's farmland property rights deformity.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 1 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2017

Lingyue Li and Roger C.K. Chan

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an in-depth understanding of China’s ongoing urban development by engaging with the theoretical dialogue of neoliberalism. It takes…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an in-depth understanding of China’s ongoing urban development by engaging with the theoretical dialogue of neoliberalism. It takes decentralization and marketization as the governance background to examine the evolving policy of land, housing and public service in China, with a particular focus on Chongqing. The mismatches experienced under the evolving policy are also discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing and consulting related literature, archives, statistical yearbooks, government reports, local newspapers and urban planning documents, this paper offers an overview of urban policy in China. The authors have also taken two field trips and conducted interviews in Chongqing in Summer 2012 and Winter 2013.

Findings

This paper finds that urban China’s land, housing and public service markets have been re-regulated, with a rescaling of statehood, recalibration of central-local relations and reinvented urban governance in the post-reform era. These policies have evolved from the market-oriented principles of early reforms to a more hybrid approach for which the policies have matured and state intervention has been reintroduced. Mismatches have been generated by this evolution.

Originality/value

This paper provides an up-to-date examination of new initiatives for policy adjustment in urban China, with a closer look at Chongqing, one of the most dynamic contemporary metropolises in the country. It has important implications for the debate over China’s engagement with neoliberal urbanism. Also, it empirically reveals the mismatches created by the latest policy initiatives.

Details

Asian Education and Development Studies, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-3162

Keywords

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