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Village democracy and household welfare: evidence from rural China

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  • Xu, Ying
  • Amacher, Gregory S.
  • Xu, Jintao

Abstract

Village democratization in rural China is found to have profound impacts on many socio-economic aspects, but little is understood as to how welfare impacts may occur through farmers' principal production activities. This study helps to fill this gap by investigating how village democracy affects rural household welfare through these channels, using a unique household survey. The authors first establish a theoretical framework that links democracy to household welfare through changes in production efficiency. Focusing on both agricultural and forest production, they then implement empirical estimation using stochastic production frontier techniques with careful consideration of household heterogeneity in technical efficiency. They find that higher levels of village democracy significantly increase farmers' production efficiency, thereby improving their welfare. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study on the impacts of democracy on producer welfare using micro-level data.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Ying & Amacher, Gregory S. & Xu, Jintao, 2017. "Village democracy and household welfare: evidence from rural China," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 351-372, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:22:y:2017:i:04:p:351-372_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Shilei & Xu, Jintao, 2019. "Livelihood mushroomed: Examining household level impacts of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) under new management regime in China's state forests," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 44-53.

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