IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v80y2019icp107-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying livelihood strategies and transitions in rural China: Is land holding an obstacle?

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Jian
  • Mishra, Ashok K.
  • Zhu, Peixin

Abstract

Using nationally representative rural survey data from 2010 and 2014 in China, this paper quantitatively investigates the factors determining Chinese rural households’ livelihood strategies and dynamics in transitions. Using a multinomial probit regression and ordered logit regression (OLR), we find that human assets and transport facilities are the most important factors in improving the livelihood strategies of rural Chinese households. These factors also encourage upward livelihood mobility. However, factors such as land endowment, land renting-in, and land expropriation have a negative effect on rural Chinese households’ upward mobility in livelihood strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Zhu, Peixin, 2019. "Identifying livelihood strategies and transitions in rural China: Is land holding an obstacle?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 107-117.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:80:y:2019:i:c:p:107-117
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.042
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718313607
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.042?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sylvie Démurger & Martin Fournier & Yang Weiyong, 2009. "Rural households decisions towards income diversification − Evidence from a township in northern China," Post-Print halshs-00957824, HAL.
    2. Ashok K. Mishra & Barry K. Goodwin, 1997. "Farm Income Variability and the Supply of Off-Farm Labor," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(3), pages 880-887.
    3. Jikun Huang & Jiping Ding, 2016. "Institutional innovation and policy support to facilitate small-scale farming transformation in China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 227-237, November.
    4. Liu, Ziming & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi & Hanisch, Markus, 2017. "Can land transfer through land cooperatives foster off-farm employment in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 35-44.
    5. Ashok K. Mishra & Carmen L. Sandretto, 2002. "Stability of Farm Income and the Role of Nonfarm Income in U.S. Agriculture," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 208-221.
    6. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing, 2005. "The potential of land rental markets in the process of economic development: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 241-270, October.
    7. Cai, Fang & Wang, Dewen & Du, Yang, 2002. "Regional disparity and economic growth in China: The impact of labor market distortions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 197-212.
    8. Øystein Juul Nielsen & Santosh Rayamajhi & Patricia Uberhuaga & Henrik Meilby & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2013. "Quantifying rural livelihood strategies in developing countries using an activity choice approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(1), pages 57-71, January.
    9. Hisham S. El-Osta & Ashok K. Mishra & Mitchell J. Morehart, 2008. "Off-Farm Labor Participation Decisions of Married Farm Couples and the Role of Government Payments," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(2), pages 311-332.
    10. SHI, Xiaoping & Heerink, Nico & Qu, Futian, 2007. "Choices between different off-farm employment sub-categories: An empirical analysis for Jiangxi Province, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 438-455.
    11. Shanta Paudel Khatiwada & Wei Deng & Bikash Paudel & Janak Raj Khatiwada & Jifei Zhang & Yi Su, 2017. "Household Livelihood Strategies and Implication for Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Central Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Glauben, Thomas & Herzfeld, Thomas & Wang, Xiaobing, 2008. "Labor market participation of Chinese agricultural households: Empirical evidence from Zhejiang province," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 329-340, August.
    13. Winters, Paul C. & Corral, Leonardo & Gordillo, Gustavo, 2001. "Rural Livelihood Strategies and Social Capital in Latin America: Implications for Rural Development Projects," Working Papers 12947, University of New England, School of Economics.
    14. Solomon Zena Walelign & Mariève Pouliot & Helle Overgaard Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2017. "Combining Household Income and Asset Data to Identify Livelihood Strategies and Their Dynamics," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(6), pages 769-787, June.
    15. Jiao, Xi & Pouliot, Mariève & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2017. "Livelihood Strategies and Dynamics in Rural Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 266-278.
    16. Reardon, Thomas & Berdegue, Julio & Escobar, German, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in Latin America: Overview and Policy Implications," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 395-409, March.
    17. van den Berg, Marrit, 2010. "Household income strategies and natural disasters: Dynamic livelihoods in rural Nicaragua," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 592-602, January.
    18. Emi Uchida & Scott Rozelle & Jintao Xu, 2009. "Conservation Payments, Liquidity Constraints, and Off-Farm Labor: Impact of the Grain-for-Green Program on Rural Households in China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 70-86.
    19. Carole Rakodi, 1999. "A Capital Assets Framework for Analysing Household Livelihood Strategies: Implications for Policy," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 17(3), pages 315-342, September.
    20. Ashok K. Mishra & J. Mathew Fannin & Hyunjeong Joo, 2014. "Off-Farm Work, Intensity of Government Payments, and Farm Exits: Evidence from a National Survey in the United States," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 62(2), pages 283-306, June.
    21. Frank Ellis & H Ade Freeman, 2004. "Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Strategies in Four African Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1-30.
    22. Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2004. "Infrastructure and regional economic development in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 203-214.
    23. Liu, Zhiqiang, 2005. "Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 133-157, March.
    24. Joe Dewbre, 2006. "The Impact of Coupled and Decoupled Government Subsidies on Off-Farm Labor Participation of U.S. Farm Operators," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(2), pages 393-408.
    25. Hans G. P. Jansen & John Pender & Amy Damon & Willem Wielemaker & Rob Schipper, 2006. "Policies for sustainable development in the hillside areas of Honduras: a quantitative livelihoods approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 34(2), pages 141-153, March.
    26. Barrett, C. B. & Reardon, T. & Webb, P., 2001. "Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: concepts, dynamics, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 315-331, August.
    27. Zou, Baoling & Mishra, Ashok K. & Luo, Biliang, 2018. "Aging population, farm succession, and farmland usage: Evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 437-445.
    28. Linxiu Zhang & Yongqing Dong & Chengfang Liu & Yunli Bai, 2018. "Off-farm employment over the past four decades in rural China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(2), pages 190-214, May.
    29. Federico Belotti & Partha Deb & Willard G. Manning & Edward C. Norton, 2015. "twopm: Two-part models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(1), pages 3-20, March.
    30. Zhao, Yaohui, 2002. "Causes and Consequences of Return Migration: Recent Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 376-394, June.
    31. Jansen, Hans G. P. & Pender, John L. & Damon, Amy & Schipper, Rob, 2006. "Rural development policies and sustainable land use in the hillside areas of Honduras: a quantitative livelihoods approach," Research reports 147, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rui Sun & Jianing Mi & Shu Cao & Tianyi Zhang, 2021. "Trends and Determinants of Income-Oriented Livelihood Transitions in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 601-624, June.
    2. Oliver Schulte & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2022. "The Effect of Renting in Cropland on Livelihood Choices and Agricultural Commercialization: A Case Study from Rural Vietnam," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(6), pages 2878-2898, December.
    3. Lan, Xiao & Zhang, Qin & Xue, Haili & Liang, Haoguang & Wang, Bojie & Wang, Weijun, 2021. "Linking sustainable livelihoods with sustainable grassland use and conservation: A case study from rural households in a semi-arid grassland area, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Hong Tang & Jian Liu & Xiaowen Dai & Yun Zhang & Wendai He & Qi Yin & Feng Huang & Ruiping Ran & Yunqiang Liu, 2022. "Household Groups’ Land Use Decisions Investigation Based on Perspective of Livelihood Heterogeneity in Sichuan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Varun Kumar Das & A. Ganesh-Kumar, 2019. "Off-the-farm livelihood choice of farm households in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2019-032, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    6. Qinglei, Zhao & Guanghui, Jiang & Wenqiu, Ma & Dingyang, Zhou & Yanbo, Qu & Yuting, Yang, 2019. "Social security or profitability? Understanding multifunction of rural housing land from farmers’ needs: Spatial differentiation and formation mechanism—Based on a survey of 613 typical farmers in Pin," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 91-103.
    7. Ganchimeg Gombodorj & Károly Pető, 2022. "What Type of Households in Mongolia Are Most Hit by COVID-19?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan & Li, Xiaoshun, 2020. "Factors affecting farmland rental in rural China: Evidence of capitalization of grain subsidy payments," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Bencheng Liu & Yangang Fang, 2021. "The Nexus between Rural Household Livelihoods and Agricultural Functions: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Zhaoxia Guo & Qinqin Guo & Yujie Cai & Ge Wang, 2021. "Unraveling Risk Networks of Cultivated Land Protection: An Exploratory Stakeholder-Oriented Case Study in Xiliuhe Town, Hubei Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-26, November.
    11. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Hirsch, Stefan, 2021. "Market-oriented agriculture and farm performance: Evidence from rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    12. Aoxi Yang & Jingqiao Ye & Yahui Wang, 2022. "Coupling and Coordination Relationship between Livelihood Capital and Livelihood Stability of Farmers in Different Agricultural Regions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, November.
    13. Yueyue He & Tanveer Ahmed, 2022. "Farmers’ Livelihood Capital and Its Impact on Sustainable Livelihood Strategies: Evidence from the Poverty-Stricken Areas of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, April.
    14. Yin Wang & Dian Min & Wenli Ye & Kongsen Wu & Xinjun Yang, 2023. "The Impact of Rural Location on Farmers’ Livelihood in the Loess Plateau: Local, Urban–Rural, and Interconnected Multi-Spatial Perspective Research," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Liu, Wei & Li, Jie & Xu, Jie, 2020. "Impact of the ecological resettlement program in southern Shaanxi Province, China on households' livelihood strategies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Tilahun Dires & Derjew Fentie & Yeneneh Hunie & Worku Nega & Mulugeta Tenaw & Sayeh Kassaw Agegnehu & Reinfried Mansberger, 2021. "Assessing the Impacts of Expropriation and Compensation on Livelihood of Farmers: The Case of Peri-Urban Debre Markos, Ethiopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    17. Héctor Eduardo Hernández-Núñez & Isabel Gutiérrez-Montes & Angie Paola Bernal-Núñez & Gustavo Adolfo Gutiérrez-García & Juan Carlos Suárez & Fernando Casanoves & Cornelia Butler Flora, 2022. "Cacao cultivation as a livelihood strategy: contributions to the well-being of Colombian rural households," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 201-216, March.
    18. Yahui Wang & Liangjie Xin & Haozhe Zhang & Yuanqing Li, 2019. "An Estimation of the Extent of Rent-Free Farmland Transfer and Its Driving Forces in Rural China: A Multilevel Logit Model Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, June.

    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. Zhang, Yongchao & Torre, André & Ehrlich, Marianne, 2023. "The impact of Chinese government promoted homestead transfer on labor migration and household's well-being: A study in three rural areas," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Jian Zhang & Ashok K. Mishra & Peixin Zhu, 2021. "Land rental markets and labor productivity: Evidence from rural China," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 69(1), pages 93-115, March.
    3. Gil, J.M. & Diaz-Montenegro, J. & Varela, E., 2018. "A Bias-Adjusted Three-Step approach for analysing the livelihood strategies and the asset mix of cacao producers in Ecuador," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277215, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Barad, Richard & Fletcher, Erin K. & Hillbruner, Chris, 2020. "Leveraging existing household survey data to map livelihoods in Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    5. Ashish Aman Sinha & Hari Charan Behera & Ajit Kumar Behura & Amiya Kumar Sahoo & Utpal Kumar De, 2021. "Livelihood Assets and Income Generating Activities: A Comparative Analysis in the Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Areas of Jharkhand," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 15(3), pages 443-467, December.
    6. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Zhu, Peixin, 2023. "Land Markets and Labor Productivity: Empirical Evidence from China," IZA Discussion Papers 16575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Yang Liu & Qing Zhang & Qingfu Liu & Yongzhi Yan & Wanxin Hei & Deyong Yu & Jianguo Wu, 2020. "Different Household Livelihood Strategies and Influencing Factors in the Inner Mongolian Grassland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Wenjia Peng & Hua Zheng & Brian E. Robinson & Cong Li & Fengchun Wang, 2017. "Household Livelihood Strategy Choices, Impact Factors, and Environmental Consequences in Miyun Reservoir Watershed, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-12, January.
    9. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Jiao, Xi, 2017. "Dynamics of rural livelihoods and environmental reliance: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 199-209.
    10. Solomon Zena Walelign & Mariève Pouliot & Helle Overgaard Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "A novel approach to dynamic livelihood clustering: Empirical evidence from Nepal," IFRO Working Paper 2015/09, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    11. Rui Sun & Jianing Mi & Shu Cao & Tianyi Zhang, 2021. "Trends and Determinants of Income-Oriented Livelihood Transitions in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 601-624, June.
    12. Fengchun Wang & Hua Zheng & Xiaoke Wang & Wenjia Peng & Dongchun Ma & Cong Li, 2017. "Classification of the Relationship between Household Welfare and Ecosystem Reliance in the Miyun Reservoir Watershed, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Shanta Paudel Khatiwada & Wei Deng & Bikash Paudel & Janak Raj Khatiwada & Jifei Zhang & Jiangjun Wan, 2018. "A Gender Analysis of Changing Livelihood Activities in the Rural Areas of Central Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, November.
    14. Shanta Paudel Khatiwada & Wei Deng & Bikash Paudel & Janak Raj Khatiwada & Jifei Zhang & Yi Su, 2017. "Household Livelihood Strategies and Implication for Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Central Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-20, April.
    15. Isael Fierros-González & Jorge Mora-Rivera, 2022. "Drivers of Livelihood Strategies: Evidence from Mexico’s Indigenous Rural Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, June.
    16. Wenjia Peng & Brian E. Robinson & Hua Zheng & Cong Li & Fengchun Wang & Ruonan Li, 2019. "Telecoupled Sustainable Livelihoods in an Era of Rural–Urban Dynamics: The Case of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    17. Sagarika Dey, 2022. "Structure and dynamics of livelihoods in rural India: A panel data analysis," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 307-334, September.
    18. Radosław PASTUSIAK & Magdalena JASINIAK & Michał SOLIWODA & Joanna STAWSKA, 2017. "What may determine off-farm income? A review," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 63(8), pages 380-391.
    19. Zhang, Jian & Mishra, Ashok K. & Ma, Xianlei, 2023. "Mechanism of Chinese farmers’ land rental participation: The role of invisible markets and public intervention," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    20. Helmy, Imane, 2020. "Livelihood Diversification Strategies: Resisting Vulnerability in Egypt," GLO Discussion Paper Series 441, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    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:eee:lauspo:v:80:y:2019:i:c:p:107-117. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.