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Relaxing Rural Constraints: a ‘Win-Win’ Policy for Poverty and Environment in China?

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Author Info
Ben Groom () (Department of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG)
Pauline Grosjean
Andreas Kontoleon
Tim Swanson
Shiqiu Zhang

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Abstract

The link between local institutional and market failures, rural poverty and environmental degradation suggests a win-win policy intervention: solve local ?constraints and achieve both poverty alleviation and environmental goals. However, designing such interventions is problematic since exposure to constraints is unobservable and responses can be heterogeneous. In this context we evaluate the ability of the world's largest land set-aside programme, the Sloping Lands Conversion Programme (SLCP) in China, to relax local constraints on off-farm labour markets and achieve these dual objectives. A farm household model in the presence of constraints is developed. This identi?es constrained and unconstrained households and predicts that the impact of the SLCP on off-farm labour supply will be larger for the former if constraints are relaxed. To test this, a novel empirical approach is employed which combines a switching regression with difference in differences. Applied to panel data, these features allow unobserved sample separation, into constrained and unconstrained households, and consistent estimation of the SLCP?s heterogeneous impact. Also identified is the impact on the probability of being constrained and the relative importance of constraints such as tenure security. We ?nd some mixed support for the win-win hypothesis in the case of the SLCP.

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File URL: http://www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/RePEc/pdf/200830.pdf
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Paper provided by University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economics in its series Environmental Economy and Policy Research Working Papers with number 30.2008.

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Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision: 2008
Handle: RePEc:lnd:wpaper:200830

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Related research
Keywords: Off-farm labour supply institutional and market failures local separability Sloping Lands Conversion Programme (SLCP) difference in differences switching regression

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
O22 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Project Analysis

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Du, Yang & Park, Albert & Wang, Sangui, 2005. "Migration and rural poverty in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 688-709, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Taylor, J Edward & Rozelle, Scott & de Brauw, Alan, 2003. "Migration and Incomes in Source Communities: A New Economics of Migration Perspective from China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 75-101, October.
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    Other versions:
  4. Besley, Timothy J & Kanbur, S M Ravi, 1988. "Food Subsidies and Poverty Alleviation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(392), pages 701-19, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2000. "Evaluation methods for non-experimental data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 427-468, January. [Downloadable!]
  6. Heckman, James J & Ichimura, Hidehiko & Todd, Petra E, 1997. "Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 64(4), pages 605-54, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Matshe, Innocent & Young, Trevor, 2004. "Off-farm labour allocation decisions in small-scale rural households in Zimbabwe," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 175-186, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Carter, Michael R & Yao, Yang, 2002. " Local versus Global Separability in Agricultural Household Models: The Factor Price Equalization Effect of Land Transfer Rights," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, American Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 84(3), pages 702-15, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Nong Zhu, 2005. "The Role of Non-Farm Incomes in Reducing Rural Poverty and Inequality in China," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series 1001, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
  10. Uchida, Emi & Xu, Jintao & Xu, Zhigang & Rozelle, Scott, 2007. "Are the poor benefiting from China's land conservation program?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(04), pages 593-620, July. [Downloadable!]
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