IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_7306.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What Stayers Do? Capital Endowments and On-Farm Transitions in Rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Hao Wang
  • Jan Fidrmuc
  • Qi Luo
  • Mingzhong Luo

Abstract

While much research on China has focused on rural to urban migration and transitions of rural households away from agriculture, little is known about the changes within the rural agricultural sector. Yet, the agricultural sector continues to account for a large share of employment. We study the determinants of transitions from subsistence farming into either formal agricultural employment or agricultural self-employment. We pay particular attention to the role of capital endowments. We find that financial capital plays a relatively limited role, compared to natural, human, social and political capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao Wang & Jan Fidrmuc & Qi Luo & Mingzhong Luo, 2018. "What Stayers Do? Capital Endowments and On-Farm Transitions in Rural China," CESifo Working Paper Series 7306, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp7306.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Xiaobo & Li, Guo, 2003. "Does guanxi matter to nonfarm employment?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 315-331, June.
    2. Liu, Jing & Xing, Chunbing, 2016. "Migrate for education: An unintended effect of school district combination in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 192-206.
    3. Li, Xiaorong & Chan, Kam C., 2016. "Communist party control and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 5-7.
    4. Zhang, Linxiu & Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2002. "Employment, emerging labor markets, and the role of education in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 313-328.
    5. Zhang, Jian & Giles, John & Rozelle, Scott, 2012. "Does it pay to be a cadre? Estimating the returns to being a local official in rural China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 337-356.
    6. Stark, Oded, 1984. "Rural-to-Urban Migration in LDCs: A Relative Deprivation Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 475-486, April.
    7. Jin, Yanhong & Fan, Maoyong & Cheng, Mingwang & Shi, Qinghua, 2014. "The economic gains of cadre status in rural China: Investigating effects and mechanisms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 185-200.
    8. Dekle, Robert & Vandenbroucke, Guillaume, 2012. "A quantitative analysis of China's structural transformation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 119-135.
    9. Schmidt, Peter & Strauss, Robert P, 1975. "The Prediction of Occupation Using Multiple Logit Models," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 16(2), pages 471-486, June.
    10. Fidrmuc, Jan & Gërxhani, Klarita, 2008. "Mind the gap! Social capital, East and West," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 264-286, June.
    11. Lee, Seung Jung & Stebunovs, Viktors, 2016. "Bank capital pressures, loan substitutability, and nonfinancial employment," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 44-69.
    12. Kimhi, Ayal & Bollman, Ray, 1999. "Family farm dynamics in Canada and Israel: the case of farm exits," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 69-79, August.
    13. Xiaolan Fu & V. N. Balasubramanyam, 2005. "Exports, Foreign Direct Investment and Employment: The Case of China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 607-625, April.
    14. Skriabikova, Olga J. & Dohmen, Thomas & Kriechel, Ben, 2014. "New evidence on the relationship between risk attitudes and self-employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 176-184.
    15. Best, Rohan, 2017. "Switching towards coal or renewable energy? The effects of financial capital on energy transitions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 75-83.
    16. Gale, Fred, 2013. "Growth and Evolution in China's Agricultural Support Policies," Economic Research Report 155385, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Hvide, Hans K. & Panos, Georgios A., 2014. "Risk tolerance and entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 200-223.
    18. Wang, Yahua & Chen, Chunliang & Araral, Eduardo, 2016. "The Effects of Migration on Collective Action in the Commons: Evidence from Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 79-93.
    19. Hohnisch, M. & Pittnauer, S. & Selten, R. & Pfingsten, A. & Eraßmy, J., 2014. "Gender differences in decisions under profound uncertainty are non-robust to the availability of information on equally informed others’ decisions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 40-58.
    20. Mohapatra, Sandeep & Rozelle, Scott & Goodhue, Rachael, 2007. "The Rise of Self-Employment in Rural China: Development or Distress?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 163-181, January.
    21. Ahn, Taehyun, 2010. "Attitudes toward risk and self-employment of young workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 434-442, April.
    22. J. Edward Taylor, 1987. "Undocumented Mexico—U.S. Migration and the Returns to Households in Rural Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(3), pages 626-638.
    23. Zhao, Guochang & Ye, Jingjing & Li, Zhengyang & Xue, Sen, 2017. "How and why do Chinese urban students outperform their rural counterparts?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 103-123.
    24. Brown, Sarah & Dietrich, Michael & Ortiz-Nuñez, Aurora & Taylor, Karl, 2011. "Self-employment and attitudes towards risk: Timing and unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 425-433, June.
    25. Bebbington, Anthony, 1999. "Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2021-2044, December.
    26. Su, Shiliang & Hu, Yi’na & Luo, Fanghan & Mai, Gengchen & Wang, Yaping, 2014. "Farmland fragmentation due to anthropogenic activity in rapidly developing region," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 87-93.
    27. Sarin, Rakesh & Wieland, Alice, 2016. "Risk aversion for decisions under uncertainty: Are there gender differences?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-8.
    28. Rahaman, Mohammad M., 2011. "Access to financing and firm growth," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 709-723, March.
    29. Han, Linghui & Hare, Denise, 2013. "The link between credit markets and self-employment choice among households in rural China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 52-64.
    30. Wang, Xiaobing & Huang, Jikun & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2011. "The rise of migration and the fall of self employment in rural China's labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 573-584.
    31. Wang, Wen & Li, Qiang & Lien, Donald, 2016. "Human capital, political capital, and off-farm occupational choices in rural China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 412-422.
    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. Wang, Wen & Li, Qiang & Lien, Donald, 2016. "Human capital, political capital, and off-farm occupational choices in rural China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 412-422.
    2. Krčál, Ondřej & Staněk, Rostislav & Slanicay, Martin, 2019. "Made for the job or by the job? A lab-in-the-field experiment with firefighters," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 271-276.
    3. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    4. Ondřej Krčál & Rostislav Staněk & Martin Slanicay, 2019. "Made for the job or by the job? A lab-in-the-field experiment with firefighters," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2019-05, Masaryk University, revised Feb 2023.
    5. de Blasio, Guido & De Paola, Maria & Poy, Samuele & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2018. "Risk Aversion and Entrepreneurship: New Evidence Exploiting Exposure to Massive Earthquakes in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 12057, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Xiaoyu Sun & Weijing Zhu & Aili Chen & Gangqiao Yang, 2022. "Land Certificated Program and Farmland “Stickiness” of Rural Labor: Based on the Perspective of Land Production Function," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-24, September.
    7. Tingqiu Cao & Xianhang Qian, 2021. "Political Capital and Household Income: Evidence from Twenty-Four Transition Countries," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 151-165, March.
    8. Feng Hu, 2014. "Risk Attitudes and Self-employment in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(3), pages 101-120, July.
    9. Matthias Brachert & Walter Hyll & Abdolkarim Sadrieh, 2020. "Entry into self-employment and individuals’ risk-taking propensities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1057-1074, December.
    10. Florentine U. Salmony & Dominik K. Kanbach, 2022. "Personality trait differences across types of entrepreneurs: a systematic literature review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 713-749, April.
    11. Liwen Chen & Bobby Chung & Guanghua Wang, 2021. "Exposure to Socially Influential Peer Parents: Evidence from Cadre Parents in China," Working Papers 2021-052, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    12. Guido Blasio & Maria Paola & Samuele Poy & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2021. "Massive earthquakes, risk aversion, and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 295-322, June.
    13. Giefer, Madeline M. & An, Li, 2022. "Divergent impacts of the grain to green program, landholdings, and demographic factors on livelihood diversification in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Haojing Shen & Yan Song & Changchun Feng & Zhengying Shan, 2021. "The Influence of Political Capital on Peasants’ Migration Behavior and Its Implications," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & Tina Xu, 2017. "Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature," NBER Working Papers 24097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Dorota Ciołek & Anna Golejewska & Adriana Zabłocka‐Abi Yaghi, 2022. "Innovation drivers in regions. Does urbanization matter?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 1933-1960, December.
    17. Vendryes, Thomas, 2011. "Migration constraints and development: Hukou and capital accumulation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 669-692.
    18. Murat Yalcintas & Oyk㜠Iyigãœn & Gokhan Karabulut, 2023. "Personal Characteristics And Intention For Entrepreneurship," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(02), pages 539-561.
    19. Hou, Benyufang & Liu, Hong & Wang, Sophie Xuefei, 2020. "Returns to military service in off-farm wage employment: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    20. Chang, Hongqin & Dong, Xiao-yuan & MacPhail, Fiona, 2011. "Labor Migration and Time Use Patterns of the Left-behind Children and Elderly in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2199-2210.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    on-farm transitions; rural household livelihood strategy; capital endowments; labor allocation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

    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:ces:ceswps:_7306. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.