IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v89y2024ipbp581-596.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cultural diversity, social network, and off-farm employment: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Ling
  • Ruan, Jianqing

Abstract

Farmers rely increasingly on off-farm employment to enhance incomes. Previous studies have emphasized the role of social networks in securing off-farm employment, but have ignored that the formation of social networks is shaped by cultural environment. Using data from a nationally representative survey in China, this paper shows that farmers from regions with larger cultural diversity are less likely to participate in off-farm employment and obtain lower off-farm wages. The negative impact of cultural diversity comes from the reduction in job information from social networks of weak ties and is moderated by the urbanization policy of providing formal information sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Ling & Ruan, Jianqing, 2024. "Cultural diversity, social network, and off-farm employment: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 581-596.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pb:p:581-596
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.10.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105905602300391X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.10.021?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. 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.
    2. Knight, John & Deng, Quheng & Li, Shi, 2011. "The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 585-600.
    3. Chan, Kenneth S. & Dang, Vinh Q.T. & Li, Tingting, 2018. "Genetic diversity and economic development: Evidence from Chinese provinces," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 50-62.
    4. 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.
    5. Yang, Dennis Tao, 1997. "Education and Off-Farm Work," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(3), pages 613-632, April.
    6. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    7. Wahba, Jackline & Zenou, Yves, 2005. "Density, social networks and job search methods: Theory and application to Egypt," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 443-473, December.
    8. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from US cities," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 7, pages 187-222, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. 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.
    10. Ruben, Ruerd & Van den berg, Marrit, 2001. "Nonfarm Employment and Poverty Alleviation of Rural Farm Households in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 549-560, March.
    11. Sarah Cook, 1998. "Who gets what jobs in China's countryside? A multinomial logit analysis," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 171-190.
    12. Zhang, Xiaobo & Li, Guo, 2003. "Does guanxi matter to nonfarm employment?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 315-331, June.
    13. 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.
    14. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2014:i:2:p:19116211 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Melinda McCoy & Glen Filson, 1996. "Working off the farm: Impacts on quality of life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 149-163, February.
    16. Liu, Yuyun & Jiao, Yang & Xu, Xianxiang, 2020. "Promoting or preventing labor migration? Revisiting the role of language," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    17. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    18. Xiong, Ailun & Li, Hongyi & Westlund, Hans & Pu, Yongjian, 2017. "Social networks, job satisfaction and job searching behavior in the Chinese labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Uwe Blien & Linda Borrs & Jens Südekum & Katja Wolf, 2014. "Local Labour Markets and Cultural Diversity," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(02), pages 27-34, July.
    20. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    21. Cao, Kang Hua & Birchenall, Javier A., 2013. "Agricultural productivity, structural change, and economic growth in post-reform China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 165-180.
    22. Jens Suedekum & Katja Wolf & Uwe Blien, 2014. "Cultural Diversity and Local Labour Markets," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 173-191, January.
    23. Koopmans, Ruud & Schaeffer, Merlin, 2016. "Statistical and Perceived Diversity and Their Impacts on Neighborhood Social Cohesion in Germany, France and the Netherlands," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 125(3), pages 853-883.
    24. Rozelle Scott, 1994. "Rural Industrialization and Increasing Inequality: Emerging Patterns in China's Reforming Economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 362-391, December.
    25. Ruud Koopmans & Merlin Schaeffer, 2016. "Statistical and Perceived Diversity and Their Impacts on Neighborhood Social Cohesion in Germany, France and the Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 853-883, February.
    26. Uwe Blien & Linda Borrs & Jens Südekum & Katja Wolf, 2014. "Local Labour Markets and Cultural Diversity," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(2), pages 27-34, 07.
    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. Xin Zhang & Xudong Lu & Chunjie Huang & Wenbo Liu & Guangchen Wang, 2024. "The Impact of Social Capital on Migrants’ Social Integration: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-16, 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. Ling Wang & Jianqing Ruan, 2023. "The Cost and Benefit of Regional Cultural Diversity on the Income of Rural Workers: Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 759-786, February.
    2. Usman Khalid & Mohammad Amin, 2023. "The impact of ethnic fractionalisation on labor productivity: Does firm size matter?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 2213-2249, October.
    3. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2015. "Cultural Diversity: A Matter of Measurement," IZA Discussion Papers 8782, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Francesco Campo & Mariapia Mendola & Andrea Morrison & Gianmarco Ottaviano, "undated". "Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration," Development Working Papers 464, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    5. Frédéric Docquier & Riccardo Turati & Jérôme Valette & Chrysovalantis Vasilakis, 2020. "Birthplace diversity and economic growth: evidence from the US states in the Post-World War II period [Cultural diversity and economic growth: evidence from the US during the age of mass migration]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 321-354.
    6. Trax, Michaela & Brunow, Stephan & Suedekum, Jens, 2015. "Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 85-96.
    7. Zhiling Wang & Thomas de Graaff & Peter Nijkamp, 2018. "Barriers of Culture, Networks, and Language in International Migration: A Review," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 5, pages 73-89.
    8. Francesco Campo & Mariapia Mendola & Andrea Morrison & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2022. "Talents and Cultures: Immigrant Inventors and Ethnic Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1971-2012.
    9. Alpaslan Akay & Amelie Constant & Corrado Giulietti & Martin Guzi, 2017. "Ethnic diversity and well-being," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 265-306, January.
    10. Thomas Kemeny & Abigail Cooke, 2018. "Spillovers from immigrant diversity in cities," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 213-245.
    11. Francesco Campo & Mariapia Mendola & Andrea Morrison & Gianmarco Ottaviano, "undated". "Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration," Development Working Papers 464, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    12. Frédéric Docquier & Riccardo Turati & Jérôme Valette & Chrysovalantis Vasilakis, 2016. "Multiculturalism and Growth: Skill-Specific Evidence from the Post-World War II Period," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016028, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    13. Unai Pascual & Edward Barbier, 2005. "On- and off-farm labor decisions by slash-and-burn farmers in Yucatan (Mexico)," Environmental Economy and Policy Research Working Papers 06.2005, University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economics, revised 2005.
    14. Silje Haus-Reve & Abigail Cooke, 2019. "Do regional social capital and trust matter for immigrant diversity and wages?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1932, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2019.
    15. Cooke, Abigail & Kemeny, Thomas, 2017. "Cities, immigrant diversity, and complex problem solving," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1175-1185.
    16. Stephan Brunow & Luise Grünwald, 2014. "Exports, agglomeration and workforce diversity: An empirical assessment of German establishments," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2014008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    17. Tom Kemeny & Abigail Cooke, 2017. "Urban Immigrant Diversity and Inclusive Institutions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(3), pages 267-291, May.
    18. Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp & Masood Gheasi, 2018. "Fortunado’s, Desperado’s and Clandestino’s in Diaspora Labour Markets: The Circular ‘Homo Mobilis’," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Roger R. Stough & Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp & Uwe Blien (ed.), Modelling Aging and Migration Effects on Spatial Labor Markets, chapter 0, pages 31-50, Springer.
    19. Stephan Brunow & Luise Pestel & Mark Partridge, 2019. "Exports of firms and diversity: an empirical assessment for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 151-175, February.
    20. Abbasiharofteh, Milad & Brökel, Tom, 2022. "Toward a comprehensive measure of socio-cultural diversity: The case of Germany," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Spatial transformation: Processes, strategies, research design, volume 19, pages 87-98, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Off-farm employment; Cultural diversity; Linguistic diversity; Social networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    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:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pb:p:581-596. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    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.