Influence of capital endowment on rural households’ willingness to pay for rural human settlement improvement: evidence from rural China

Studying the influence of capital endowment on rural households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for rural human settlement improvement (RHSI) will help to seek a breakthrough for implementing a rural environmental management payment system. According to Bourdieu’s practical theory, this study establishes a theoretical analysis model and research hypothesis of capital endowment (economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital) and rural households’ WTP for RHSI. This study uses the Double-Hurdle Model to empirically analyse the effect of capital endowment on rural households’ two-stage WTP for RHSI (the payment inclination and the willingness payment amount). This study found that capital endowment has a significant positive impact on rural households’ WTP for RHSI. Economic capital (annual household income, number of agricultural machinery), cultural capital (head of household’s education level, migrant work experience, and the degree of current affairs awareness), and social capital (moral restraint, interpersonal trust, and institutional trust) can significantly increase a rural household’s payment inclination and willingness payment amount. Accordingly, this study proposes policy recommendations to incorporate rural households’ interest demands into the development and implementation process of RHSI projects, and to strengthen the accumulation of the three types of capital endowments of rural households.