IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0308393.html

The impact of rural collective property rights reform on income and poverty reduction: Evidence from China’s rural regions

Author

Listed:
  • Qin Xiang
  • Jingjin Li
  • Guoyong Liu

Abstract

The reform of rural collective property rights is pivotal in advancing agricultural modernization and comprehensive rural revitalization. This study aims to explore the impact of this reform on income growth and poverty reduction in rural areas, as well as its underlying mechanisms. Utilizing data from the China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS), the propensity score matching (PSM) method was employed to empirically analyze the effects of rural collective property rights reform on income growth and poverty reduction. The findings reveal that the reform has a significant positive impact on rural income levels, indirectly enhancing income through two channels: increasing village collective assets and promoting land transfer. Additionally, the reform has a significant negative impact on rural poverty levels, effectively alleviating poverty in rural areas. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals the differential effects of property rights reform, indicating that non-poor villages, villages with higher educational levels among village leaders, and rural areas in the western regions benefit more from the reform. This study provides precise evidence for policymakers, offering a scientific basis for deepening rural collective property rights reform, promoting income growth, and fostering sustainable rural development.

Suggested Citation

  • Qin Xiang & Jingjin Li & Guoyong Liu, 2024. "The impact of rural collective property rights reform on income and poverty reduction: Evidence from China’s rural regions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0308393
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308393
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0308393
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0308393&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0308393?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yi Ren & Yang Bian & Tao He, 2017. "Characterizing the Land Shareholding Cooperative: A Case Study of Shanglin Village in Jiangsu, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Wenjing Han & Zhengfeng Zhang & Xiaoling Zhang & Li He, 2021. "Farmland Rental Participation, Agricultural Productivity, and Household Income: Evidence from Rural China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Totin, Edmond & Segnon, Alcade & Roncoli, Carla & Thompson-Hall, Mary & Sidibé, Amadou & Carr, Edward R., 2021. "Property rights and wrongs: Land reforms for sustainable food production in rural Mali," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Luo, Chuliang & Li, Shi & Sicular, Terry, 2020. "The long-term evolution of national income inequality and rural poverty in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    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. Lisa Hoeschle & Shuang Liu & Xiaohua Yu, 2025. "Let the Poor Talk About “Poverty”: Revisiting Poverty Alleviation in Rural China With Machine Learning," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), June.
    2. 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.
    3. Chunbing Xing, 2021. "The changing nature of work and earnings inequality in China," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Yang, Zhen & Gao, Weijun & Han, Qing & Qi, Liyan, 2024. "Aggravating or alleviating? Smart city construction and urban inequality in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Hou, Xin & Gao, Jianbo, 2025. "Toward Common Prosperity: Measuring decrease in inequality in China prefecture-level cities," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 29-46.
    6. Jianxu Liu & Xiaoqing Li & Shutong Liu & Sanzidur Rahman & Songsak Sriboonchitta, 2022. "Addressing Rural–Urban Income Gap in China through Farmers’ Education and Agricultural Productivity Growth via Mediation and Interaction Effects," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-23, November.
    7. Wenyuan Hua & Zhihan Chen & Liangguo Luo, 2022. "The Effect of the Major-Grain-Producing-Areas Oriented Policy on Crop Production: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-28, August.
    8. Jiachen Ning & Pingyu Zhang & Qifeng Yang & Zuopeng Ma, 2023. "Spatial Pattern of Farmland Transfer in Liaoning Province, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Mengxue Chen & Wen Su & Vladimir Canudas-Romo, 2026. "Life expectancy in China and the contribution of regional dynamics," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 54(39), pages 1279-1302.
    10. Zhixin Zeng & Xiaojun Wang, 2021. "Effects of Domestic Tourism on Urban-Rural Income Inequality: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Yang Zou & Qingbin Wang, 2022. "Impacts of farmer cooperative membership on household income and inequality: Evidence from a household survey in China," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Hualin Xie, 2017. "Towards Sustainable Land Use in China: A Collection of Empirical Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-9, November.
    13. Katharina Löhr & Custódio Efraim Matavel & Sophia Tadesse & Masoud Yazdanpanah & Stefan Sieber & Nadejda Komendantova, 2022. "Just Energy Transition: Learning from the Past for a More Just and Sustainable Hydrogen Transition in West Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-23, December.
    14. Shichao Yuan & Jian Wang, 2022. "Involution Effect: Does China’s Rural Land Transfer Market Still Have Efficiency?," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Dagdeviren, Hulya & Elangovan, Arthanari & Parimalavelli, Ramanathan, 2023. "Land tenure and food security in South India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    16. Affandi & Yunastiti Purwaningsih & Lukman Hakim & Tri Mulyaningsih & Mulyanto, 2025. "Economics, Socio-Cultural, and Environment on Poverty in Aceh, Indonesia," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, September.
    17. Ji, Xiangyu & Wang, Yiting & Yang, Lei & Li, Chun & Chen, Liding, 2025. "The impact of cropland transfer on rural household income in China: The moderating effects of education," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    18. Zou, Baoling & Mishra, Ashok K. & Luo, Biliang, 2020. "Grain subsidy, off-farm labor supply and farmland leasing: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Zhengfeng & Zhang, Xiaoling, 2024. "How does household farmland rental behavior affect gender differences in labor division and livelihood strategy? Insights from the household production theory," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    20. Hadera, Amanuel & Tadesse, Tewodros & Zeweld, Woldegebrial & Tesfay, Girmay & Gebremedhin, Bereket, 2024. "Trust, tenure security and investment in high-value forests," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0308393. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.