IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v36y2024i5p2229-2251.html

Adding insult to injury: Living in a remote location increases the burden of gift expenses among the rural poor in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yongmin Luo
  • Shenqi Ding
  • Qiyuan Li
  • Min Gao

Abstract

Based on data from the China Labor‐force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), our study examines how geographical remoteness impacts farmers' gift expense burden. Farmers' gift expense burden increases significantly as the distance from the village to the county‐level city increases. Two key mechanisms for more remote rural areas exacerbate farmers' gift expense burden: stronger reliance on neighbours and relatives for assistance and more concentrated authority among local officials. Our research offers new perspectives on disparities in gift expense burden among farmers in developing countries and suggests viable avenues to alleviate their financial strain.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongmin Luo & Shenqi Ding & Qiyuan Li & Min Gao, 2024. "Adding insult to injury: Living in a remote location increases the burden of gift expenses among the rural poor in China," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(5), pages 2229-2251, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:36:y:2024:i:5:p:2229-2251
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3906
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.3906?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. Chen, Xi & Kanbur, Ravi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Peer effects, risk pooling, and status seeking: What explains gift spending escalation in rural China?," IFPRI discussion papers 1151, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Carmichael, H Lorne & MacLeod, W Bentley, 1997. "Gift Giving and the Evolution of Cooperation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(3), pages 485-509, August.
    3. Geng, Xin & Janssens, Wendy & Kramer, Berber & van der List, Marijn, 2018. "Health insurance, a friend in need? Impacts of formal insurance and crowding out of informal insurance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 196-210.
    4. Ellingsen, Tore & Johannesson, Magnus, 2011. "Conspicuous generosity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1131-1143.
    5. Zhang, Xiaobo & Yang, Jin & Wang, Shenglin, 2011. "China has reached the Lewis turning point," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 542-554.
    6. Bulte, Erwin & Wang, Ruixin & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2018. "Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 79-98.
    7. Wang, Yahua & Chen, Sicheng & Araral, Eduardo, 2021. "The mediated effects of urban proximity on collective action in the commons: Theory and evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Fafchamps, Marcel & Wahba, Jackline, 2006. "Child labor, urban proximity, and household composition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 374-397, April.
    10. Cheng, Xiaoyu & Wang, Jianying & Chen, Kevin Z., 2022. "Does villager social capital hinder poverty targeting? Evidence from poverty-stricken county of Western China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Ganesh Pillai, Rajani & Krishnakumar, Sukumarakurup, 2019. "Elucidating the emotional and relational aspects of gift giving," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 194-202.
    12. Stifel, David & Minten, Bart, 2017. "Market Access, Well-being, and Nutrition: Evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 229-241.
    13. van der Lee, Jan & Oosting, Simon & Klerkx, Laurens & Opinya, Felix & Bebe, Bockline Omedo, 2020. "Effects of proximity to markets on dairy farming intensity and market participation in Kenya and Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    14. Mingzhi Hu & Guocheng Xiang & Shihu Zhong, 2021. "The Burden of Social Connectedness: Do Escalating Gift Expenditures Make You Happy?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 3479-3497, December.
    15. Glauben, Thomas & Herzfeld, Thomas & Rozelle, Scott & Wang, Xiaobing, 2012. "Persistent Poverty in Rural China: Where, Why, and How to Escape?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 784-795.
    16. Berger, Ron & Herstein, Ram & Silbiger, Avi & Barnes, Bradley R., 2018. "Is guanxi universal in China? Some evidence of a paradoxical shift," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 344-355.
    17. Wang, Ruixin, 2016. "Who Should I Share Risk with? Gifts can tell : Theory and Evidence from Rural China," Discussion Paper 2016-003, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    18. Choy, James P., 2020. "Religious rules as a means of strengthening family ties: Theory and evidence from the Amish," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 729-748.
    19. Pierre‐André Chiappori & Krislert Samphantharak & Sam Schulhofer‐Wohl & Robert M. Townsend, 2014. "Heterogeneity and risk sharing in village economies," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 5, pages 1-27, March.
    20. Diao, Xinshen & Fang, Peixun & Magalhaes, Eduardo & Pahl, Stefan & Silver, Jed, 2019. "Cities and rural transformation: A spatial analysis of rural youth livelihoods in Ghana," IFPRI book chapters, in: Youth and jobs in rural Africa: Beyond stylized facts, chapter 7, pages yj172-204, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    21. Currie, Janet & Lin, Wanchuan & Meng, Juanjuan, 2013. "Social networks and externalities from gift exchange: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 19-30.
    22. Zhang, Yanlong & Zhou, Xiaoyu & Lei, Wei, 2017. "Social Capital and Its Contingent Value in Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Western China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 350-361.
    23. Araral Jr., Eduardo, 2009. "What Explains Collective Action in the Commons? Theory and Evidence from the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 687-697, March.
    24. Tione, Sarah E. & Holden, Stein T., 2020. "Urban proximity, demand for land and land shadow prices in Malawi," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    25. Weng, Yulei & Xu, Hao, 2018. "How guanxi affects job search outcomes in China? Job match and job turnover," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 70-82.
    26. Westmore, Ben, 2018. "Do government transfers reduce poverty in China? Micro evidence from five regions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 59-69.
    27. Wu, Ruomeng & Steffel, Mary & Shavitt, Sharon, 2021. "Buying gifts for multiple recipients: How culture affects whose desires are prioritized," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 10-20.
    28. Galasso, Emanuela & Ravallion, Martin, 2005. "Decentralized targeting of an antipoverty program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 705-727, April.
    29. Uri Gneezy & John A List, 2006. "Putting Behavioral Economics to Work: Testing for Gift Exchange in Labor Markets Using Field Experiments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1365-1384, September.
    30. Duncan S. Gilchrist & Michael Luca & Deepak Malhotra, 2016. "When 3 + 1 > 4: Gift Structure and Reciprocity in the Field," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2639-2650, September.
    31. Armin Falk, 2007. "Gift Exchange in the Field," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(5), pages 1501-1511, September.
    32. Wang, Ruixin, 2016. "Who Should I Share Risk with? Gifts can tell : Theory and Evidence from Rural China," Other publications TiSEM 95c6dbed-3f49-4d5a-987e-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    33. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    34. Brown, Philip H. & Bulte, Erwin & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Positional spending and status seeking in rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 139-149, September.
    35. Joachim Vandercasteelen & Bart Minten & Seneshaw Tamru, 2021. "Urban proximity, access to value chains, and dairy productivity in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(4), pages 665-678, July.
    36. Diao, Xinshen & Magalhaes, Eduardo & Silver, Jed, 2019. "Cities and rural transformation: A spatial analysis of rural livelihoods in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 141-157.
    37. Monica Martinez-Bravo & Gerard Padró i Miquel & Nancy Qian & Yang Yao, 2022. "The Rise and Fall of Local Elections in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(9), pages 2921-2958, September.
    38. John Knight & Linda Yueh, 2008. "The role of social capital in the labour market in China1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 16(3), pages 389-414, July.
    39. James Andreoni & B. Douglas Bernheim, 2009. "Social Image and the 50-50 Norm: A Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Audience Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(5), pages 1607-1636, September.
    40. Kakwani, Nanak & Li, Shi & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhu, Mengbing, 2019. "Evaluating the effectiveness of the rural minimum living standard guarantee (Dibao) program in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-14.
    41. Mano, Yukichi & Yamano, Takashi & Suzuki, Aya & Matsumoto, Tomoya, 2011. "Local and Personal Networks in Employment and the Development of Labor Markets: Evidence from the Cut Flower Industry in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1760-1770.
    42. Cao, Cangjian & Li, Sherry Xin & Liu, Tracy Xiao, 2020. "A gift with thoughtfulness: A field experiment on work incentives," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 17-42.
    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. Li, Jialong & Li, Jiao, 2025. "Does climate risk impact household consumption? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    2. Jiaxi Zhou & Guoxiong Zhao & Liuyang Yao, 2025. "Peer Effects and Rural Households’ Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.

    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, Yahua & Chen, Sicheng & Araral, Eduardo, 2021. "The mediated effects of urban proximity on collective action in the commons: Theory and evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. Bulte, Erwin & Wang, Ruixin & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2018. "Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 79-98.
    3. Mingzhi Hu & Guocheng Xiang & Shihu Zhong, 2021. "The Burden of Social Connectedness: Do Escalating Gift Expenditures Make You Happy?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 3479-3497, December.
    4. Menghan Wang & Zhong Liu & Chunlan Ji, 2025. "Does rural cluster residence increase gift-giving expenditure of rural households?—evidence from Sichuan province in China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Michel André Maréchal & Christian Thöni, 2019. "Hidden Persuaders: Do Small Gifts Lubricate Business Negotiations?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3877-3888, August.
    6. Currie, Janet & Lin, Wanchuan & Meng, Juanjuan, 2013. "Social networks and externalities from gift exchange: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 19-30.
    7. Stefan Palan & Michael Kirchler, 2014. "Friendliness pays off! Monetary and Immaterial Gifts in Consumer-Salesperson Interactions," Working Papers 2014-31, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    8. Michael Kirchler & Stefan Palan, 2018. "Immaterial and monetary gifts in economic transactions: evidence from the field," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 21(1), pages 205-230, March.
    9. Cheng, Xiaoyu & Wang, Jianying & Chen, Kevin Z., 2022. "Does villager social capital hinder poverty targeting? Evidence from poverty-stricken county of Western China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Sheng, Yu & Zhao, Yuhan & Zhang, Qian & Dong, Wanlu & Huang, Jikun, 2022. "Boosting rural labor off-farm employment through urban expansion in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    11. repec:grz:wpsses:2016-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Maroš Servátka & Steven Tucker & Radovan Vadovič, 2011. "Building Trust—One Gift at a Time," Games, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-22, September.
    13. Wanlin Lin & Siqin Kang & Jiangnan Zhu & Li Ding, 2025. "Till We Have Red Faces: Drinking to Signal Trustworthiness in Contemporary China," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 203(1), pages 3-22, April.
    14. Simon Gächter & Esther Kaiser & Manfred Königstein, 2024. "Incentive contracts crowd out voluntary cooperation: Evidence from gift-exchange experiments," Discussion Papers 2024-02, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    15. Kandul, Serhiy & Lanz, Bruno & Reins, Evert, 2023. "Reciprocity and gift exchange in markets for credence goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 52-69.
    16. Simon Gaechter & Esther Kessler & Manfred Koenigstein, 2011. "The roles of incentives and voluntary cooperation for contractual compliance," Discussion Papers 2011-06, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    17. Rose, Julia & Kirchler, Michael & Palan, Stefan, 2023. "Status and reputation nudging," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Xi Chen, 2014. "Gift-Giving and Network Structure in Rural China: Utilizing Long-Term Spontaneous Gift Records," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-14, August.
    19. Yi-Bin Chiu & Zhen Wang & Xu Ye, 2023. "Household gift-giving consumption and subjective well-being: evidence from rural China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1453-1472, December.
    20. Sebastian Kube & Michel Andre Marechal & Clemens Puppe, 2012. "The Currency of Reciprocity: Gift Exchange in the Workplace," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1644-1662, June.
    21. Pan, Xiaofei & Xiao, Erte, 2016. "It’s not just the thought that counts: An experimental study on the hidden cost of giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 22-31.

    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:wly:jintdv:v:36:y:2024:i:5:p:2229-2251. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    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.