Back to Property Rights: The Impact of Land Tenure Insecurity on Cropland Abandonment

Tenure security exerts a profound influence on factor allocation efficiency and the behavioral decisions of economic agents. Nevertheless, few scholars have examined the quantitative relationship between land tenure insecurity and farmers’ cropland abandonment behavior—despite the fact that rural China is currently confronting both challenges concurrently. To address this research gap, this study adopts a panel random effects model, utilizing three waves of panel data from the China Rural Household Panel Survey (2015–2019), and measures land tenure insecurity through farmers' perceived security regarding land certification and titling, to empirically investigate the impact of land tenure insecurity on cropland abandonment. The results show that land tenure insecurity significantly exacerbates cropland abandonment. The primary reason is that land tenure insecurity suppresses agricultural capital investment, reduces agricultural labor input, and impedes land transfer, thereby accelerating the spread of cropland abandonment. However, the adverse effect is more pronounced among higher-income farmers and older farmers, while lower-income farmers and younger farmers remain largely unaffected. Furthermore, formal institutions—exemplified by land certification—help mitigate the adverse effects of land tenure insecurity on cropland abandonment, while informal institutions, represented by village regulations, prove ineffective. These findings hold significant reference value for developing countries grappling with the dual challenges of land tenure insecurity and cropland abandonment.