Impact of land registration and certification on land rental by Chinese farmers. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Qin, Ming; Lin, Wensheng; Li, Jing; Yu, Zhou; Wachenheim, Cheryl
• Is Part Of: Land use policy. Volume 99(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: Land registration and certification -- China, propensity score matching -- Instrumental variable method; Land use -- Periodicals; Land use -- Government policy -- Periodicals; Sol, Utilisation du -- Périodiques; Sol, Utilisation du -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.7305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104875
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-8377

Abstract

Highlights: The Rural Land Registration and Certification Program in China appears to facilitate transfer of land management rights to farmers. The RLRC program is associated with an increase in rental scale of cultivated land and dryland but no effect was identified for irrigated land. Propensity Score Matching and an IV-Tobit estimation were used to overcome endogeneity problems caused by sample selection bias and reverse causality. Effectiveness of the Rural Land Registration and Certification Program appears to depend on household resource endowment, village services and type of land. A one-size-fits-all policy is therefore unlikely to be uniform in effect across households and farmers it was intended to serve. Flexibility in implementation is warranted. Abstract: This paper reports on an empirical investigation of the impact of the Rural Land Registration and Certification Program (RLRC) on land rental among farmers in China. Propensity Score Matching and an IV-Tobit estimation are used in the estimate to overcome endogeneity problems caused by sample selection bias and reverse causality. The China Labor-force Dynamics Survey provides the data. Results show that the RLRC is associated with an increase in the rental scale of cultivated land (especially dryland) but has no significant impact on scale of irrigated land among farmers. Policy recommendations include consideration of village- and farm-specific factors that have been shown to affect adoption including village-support and level of natural endowment for agricultural land.