IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae18/277433.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Earthbound Labor and Transitory Exit from Farming in China

Author

Listed:
  • Ma, M.

Abstract

Smallholder farming remains predominant in Chinese agricultural production, despite massive outflows of rural labor to nonfarm sectors. Although a large number of agricultural households in China rent out the farmland for which they hold contract use rights, most of them still partially or seasonally cultivate the contract land. I collected survey data from 512 households in Southwest China to examine the arrangements of farmland, including abandonment, as households make transitory reductions in cultivation sizes. I develop a theory to explain why households tend to maximize the expected income by reducing cultivation sizes partially and seasonally. The theory centers upon the value of farmland as a safety net and an appreciable asset for agricultural households under imperfect land tenure and limited access to social benefit programs. The non-productive, use-based value of contract land is characterized by a function of simultaneous choices of the cultivation size and farm labor. Flexible reallocation of land use rights helps maximize the expected income, but the inefficiency in labor allocation remains considerable. Using the survey data, I find on-farm productivity of part-time farmers to be significantly lower than the opportunity nonfarm wage rate, implying $45 billion nonfarm earnings to be forgone by agricultural households per year. Acknowledgement : I am extremely grateful to Lovell Jarvis, Kevin Novan, Richard Sexton, and Jeffrey Williams for critical and insightful comments on earlier drafts. For helpful discussion and feedback, I thank Timothy Beatty, Steve Boucher, Colin Carter, Michael Carter, Xiaomeng Cui, Travis Lybbert, Xinshen Diao, Xiaopeng Luo, Alex McCalla, Heidi Schweizer, Daniel Sumner, Daniel Tregeagle, Yan Xu, and Xiaobo Zhang. I also thank Jianwei Zhao and Xiaomei Shen among other colleagues and government officials in China for their generous support to my field surveys in Sichuan Province. Funding for this research was provided by Henry Jastro Graduate Research Award and Banner Fellowship.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma, M., 2018. "Earthbound Labor and Transitory Exit from Farming in China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277433, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277433
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.277433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/277433/files/463.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.277433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Skoufias, 1994. "Using Shadow Wages to Estimate Labor Supply of Agricultural Households," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(2), pages 215-227.
    2. Liu, Shouying & Carter, Michael R. & Yao, Yang, 1998. "Dimensions and diversity of property rights in rural China: Dilemmas on the road to further reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 1789-1806, October.
    3. Jin, Songqing & Deininger, Klaus, 2009. "Land rental markets in the process of rural structural transformation: Productivity and equity impacts from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 629-646, December.
    4. Alain de Janvry & Kyle Emerick & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3125-3149, October.
    5. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing, 2009. "Securing property rights in transition: Lessons from implementation of China's rural land contracting law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(1-2), pages 22-38, May.
    6. Hanan G. Jacoby & Guo Li & Scott Rozelle, 2002. "Hazards of Expropriation: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Rural China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1420-1447, December.
    7. Besley, Timothy & Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2010. "Property Rights and Economic Development," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4525-4595, Elsevier.
    8. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Liu, Shouying & Xia, Fang, 2015. "Household-level impacts of property rights reform in peri-urban China: Evidence from the Chengdu National Experiment," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205753, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Mullan, Katrina & Grosjean, Pauline & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2011. "Land Tenure Arrangements and Rural-Urban Migration in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 123-133, January.
    10. Wang, Xiaobing & Yamauchi, Futoshi & Otsuka, Keijiro & Huang, Jikun, 2016. "Wage Growth, Landholding, and Mechanization in Chinese Agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 30-45.
    11. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Xia, Fang & Huang, Jikun, 2014. "Moving Off the Farm: Land Institutions to Facilitate Structural Transformation and Agricultural Productivity Growth in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 505-520.
    12. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-498, June.
    13. Deininger,Klaus W. & Jin,Songqing & Liu,Shouying & Xia,Fang, 2015. "Impact of property rights reform to support China?s rural-urban integration : household-level evidence from the Chengdu national experiment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7388, The World Bank.
    14. Erica Field, 2007. "Entitled to Work: Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1561-1602.
    15. Shingo Kimura & Keijiro Otsuka & Tetsushi Sonobe & Scott Rozelle, 2011. "Efficiency of Land Allocation through Tenancy Markets: Evidence from China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 485-510.
    16. Hanan G. Jacoby, 1993. "Shadow Wages and Peasant Family Labour Supply: An Econometric Application to the Peruvian Sierra," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(4), pages 903-921.
    17. Ran Tao & Zhigang Xu, 2007. "Urbanization, rural land system and social security for migrants in China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 1301-1320.
    18. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-937, October.
    19. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Paul J. Gertler & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2002. "Empowerment and Efficiency: Tenancy Reform in West Bengal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 239-280, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ma, Meilin, 2017. "Earthbound Labor and Incomplete Exit from Farming in China: Multiple Distortions and Nonseparable Decisions," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258414, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Jia, Lili, 2012. "Land fragmentation and off-farm labor supply in China," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 66, number 66.
    3. Gao, Xuwen & Shi, Xinjie & Fang, Shile, 2021. "Property rights and misallocation: Evidence from land certification in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Zhao, Xiaoxue, 2020. "Land and labor allocation under communal tenure: Theory and evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Ho, Hoang-Anh, 2021. "Land tenure and economic development: Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Mullan, Katrina & Grosjean, Pauline & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2011. "Land Tenure Arrangements and Rural-Urban Migration in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 123-133, January.
    7. Li, Jingrong & Zhang, Chenlei & Mi, Yunsheng, 2021. "Land titling and internal migration: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. L Rachel Ngai & Christopher A Pissarides & Jin Wang, 2019. "China’s Mobility Barriers and Employment Allocations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1617-1653.
    9. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Xia, Fang & Huang, Jikun, 2014. "Moving Off the Farm: Land Institutions to Facilitate Structural Transformation and Agricultural Productivity Growth in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 505-520.
    10. Liu, Shouying & Ma, Sen & Yin, Lijuan & Zhu, Jiong, 2023. "Land titling, human capital misallocation, and agricultural productivity in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    11. Hengzhou Xu & Yihang Zhao & Ronghui Tan & Hongchun Yin, 2017. "Does the Policy of Rural Land Rights Confirmation Promote the Transfer of Farmland in China?," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 67(4), pages 643-672, December.
    12. ZHU, WENJUE & Luo, Biliang & Paudel, Krishna P., 2018. "The Influence of Land Titling Policy on the Rural Labor Migration to City: Evidence from China," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274163, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Lei Xu & Shixiang Chen & Shuliu Tian, 2022. "The Mechanism of Land Registration Program on Land Transfer in Rural China: Considering the Effects of Livelihood Security and Agricultural Management Incentives," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-25, August.
    14. Wang, Hui & Riedinger, Jeffrey & Jin, Songqing, 2015. "Land documents, tenure security and land rental development: Panel evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 220-235.
    15. Emran, M. Shahe & Shilpi, Forhad, 2015. "Do Land Market Restrictions Hinder Structural Change in a Rural Economy? Evidence from Sri Lanka," MPRA Paper 66017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Gottlieb, Charles & Grobovšek, Jan, 2019. "Communal land and agricultural productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 135-152.
    17. Sha, Wenbiao, 2023. "The political impacts of land expropriation in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Cao, Danqiu & Wang, Yahua & Zang, Liangzhen, 2024. "Land reallocation and collective action in the commons: Application of social-ecological system framework with evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    19. Yang, Fanzheng & Hou, Lingling & Xia, Fang, 2024. "Intergenerational altruism, pessimism bias on tenure insecurity, and sustainable land use: Evidence from household grassland management in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    20. Deininger, Klaus & Savastano, Sara & Xia, Fang, 2017. "Smallholders’ land access in Sub-Saharan Africa: A new landscape?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 78-92.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor and Human Capital;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.