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Too Risky to Focus on Agriculture? An Empirical Study of China’s Agricultural Households’ Off-Farm Employment Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Xuan Chen

    (Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30033, USA)

  • Jing Chen

    (School of Economics, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA)

  • Chien-Yu Huang

    (Institute of Urban Development, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 210017, China)

Abstract

This paper investigates China’s agricultural households and their individual members’ off-farm labor supply decision in response to farm production risks and a number of other factors (e.g., demographic characteristics, farm characteristics, and local market features). Whether and to what extent farming risks may affect farmers’ off-farm employment in China are rarely studied. Our paper provides an empirical study to demonstrate that agricultural production risks significantly impact off-farm labor supply in rural China. The impacts of associated variables on households off-farm labor supply decisions are quantified using a sample of large–scale nationwide household finance survey in 2010. The results suggest that off-farm employment serves as a risk adaption strategy for Chinese farmers. Policy suggestions on retaining farmers to focus on agricultural production are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuan Chen & Jing Chen & Chien-Yu Huang, 2019. "Too Risky to Focus on Agriculture? An Empirical Study of China’s Agricultural Households’ Off-Farm Employment Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:697-:d:201577
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Randolph, Hannah, 2023. "Household-level welfare effects of land expropriation: Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 116766, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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