China Labor-force Dynamics Survey Research Articles

How does digital financial inclusion affect farmers’ choice of agricultural mechanisation: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Employing the 2014 and 2016 Digital Finance Inclusive Index of China and the China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey, this study explores the impact of the development of digital financial inclusion on farmers’ selection regarding agricultural mechanisation. The results illuminate that the extended inclusive digital financial services can incentivize farmers to outsource agricultural machinery services. This shift is facilitated by non-agricultural employment and expansion of the agricultural machinery services market, which act as mediators between the provision of inclusive digital financial services and the utilisation of agricultural machinery services. Additionally, the study discerns variations in the influence of digital financial inclusion on farmers’ decisions related to agricultural mechanisation based on the scale of their farmland. Specifically, the fostering of inclusive digital financial services exerts a significant impact primarily on small-scale farmers. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the depth of farmers’ adoption of digital financial inclusion plays a more substantial role in determining their inclination toward outsourcing agricultural machinery services than the breadth of its coverage.

Revenue-increasing effect of rural e-commerce: A perspective of farmers' market integration and employment growth

This study uses village and household matching information from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamic Survey to analyze the impact of rural e-commerce on farmers’ revenue. The outcomes of the baseline regression and robustness discussions show that rural e-commerce greatly improved farmers’ revenue. After solving endogeneity problems in the model using rural clan power as the instrumental variable, the influence of e-commerce on farmers’ revenue is still significantly positive. Further analysis suggests that rural e-commerce directly affects farmers’ revenue by promoting farmers' market integration, and indirectly affects it by expanding affiliated industries that can promote employment growth. Furthermore, in the case of a higher level of transportation infrastructure development, the impact of rural e-commerce-affiliated industries on farmers’ revenue will be greater. However, not all farmers receive the same benefits from e-commerce. Farmers with more human capital receive more benefits from e-commerce. Our results have important policy implications for developing countries that hope to grow farmers’ revenue and rural development through e-commerce.

Urban digital economy, environmental pollution, and resident's health-empirical evidence from China.

In light of China's rapid advancement in the digital economy and the implementation of the "Healthy China" initiative, it is crucial to assess the impact of the digital economy on residents' health. This study analyzes data from the 2012, 2014, and 2016 China Labor Force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) to evaluate the health of residents using both subjective and objective criteria. Furthermore, it calculates the digital economy development index for Chinese cities and investigates its influence on the subjective and objective health of residents, along with the underlying mechanisms. The empirical results reveal a U-shaped pattern in the effect of the digital economy on health levels, initially detrimental but subsequently beneficial. The analysis of mechanisms shows that the digital economy's development initially increases and then decreases environmental pollution, impacting health through environmental changes. Additionally, the study finds variations in this impact based on age and urban-rural differences, with more pronounced effects on rural and older adult populations, who also experience the U-shaped curve's turning point more rapidly. These findings highlight the necessity of advancing digital economy infrastructure to positively influence environmental quality and improve public health. The study emphasizes the urgent need for policymakers to invest in digital infrastructure to foster a sustainable and healthy future. This requires a holistic approach to development, focusing on both urban and rural areas, to promote inclusive growth and reduce the digital divide.

The impact of urban–rural medical insurance integration on medical impoverishment: evidence from China

BackgroundFinancial protection is a key dimension of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and social medical insurance is an effective measure to provide financial protection. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of urban–rural medical insurance integration on medical impoverishment in China.MethodsWe collected the time of integration policy in 337 prefecture-level cities across China, combined with the longitudinal database of China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) from 2012–2016, and used a difference-in-differences (DID) method with multiple time periods at the city level to study the effect of urban–rural medical insurance integration on the medical impoverishment. Besides, to explore the heterogeneity of policy effects across populations, we conducted subgroup analyses based on respondents' age, household registration, and whether they were rural–urban migrants.FindingsA total of 8,397 samples were included in the study. The integration policy has significantly reduced the incidence of medical impoverishment (average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) = − 0.055, p < 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that the impacts on medical impoverishment varied by age group, and the integration policy has more effect on older people than on younger people (ATT for age 15–34 = − 0.018, p > 0.05; ATT for age 35–54 = − 0.042, p < 0.05; ATT for age 55–64 = − 0.163, p < 0.01). Moreover, the impacts also varied by household registration. The integration policy has a more significant impact on rural residents (ATT for rural = − 0.067, p < 0.05) compared to urban residents (ATT for urban = − 0.007, p > 0.05). Additionally, the policy has a bigger influence on rural–urban migrants (ATT for rural–urban migrated = − 0.086, p < 0.05) than on those who have not migrated (ATT for rural–urban unmigrated = − 0.071, p < 0.05).ConclusionChina's policy of integrating urban–rural medical insurance has been successful in reducing medical impoverishment, especially for older age, rural, and rural–urban migrated people. It can be speculated that the integrating policy may be adapted to other similar settings in developing countries to reduce medical impoverishment.

Long-term effects of the left-behind experience on health and its mechanisms: Empirical evidence from China

Previous studies have primarily focused on the contemporaneous, short-term and medium-term effects of the childhood left-behind experience on subsequent health, but ignored its long-term effects and the mediating mechanisms of health outcomes. Using nationally representative data from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamic Survey, this study uses self-rated health as a measure of health outcomes to examine the long-term effects of the left-behind experience and elucidate the underlying mechanisms that contribute to health inequality from a life-course perspective. The results show: (1) the childhood left-behind experience exerts a long-term negative impact on self-rated health in adulthood, and this impact persists and does not fade over time after ending the left-behind status; (2) the influence of the childhood left-behind experience on self-rated health demonstrates a cumulative disadvantage effect, with longer duration of being left-behind resulting in greater negative impacts; additionally, there's a critical window effect, with earlier left-behind experience leading to more significant negative outcomes; (3) the experience of being left behind during childhood has a negative impact and threshold effect on social trust in adulthood, meaning that the left-behind experience negatively affects social trust, but the duration of being left behind doesn't exacerbate this reduction; and (4) social trust is a key mediating factor between left-behind experiences and health, explaining 8.70% of this effect, and explaining 12.15% and 7.71% of mediation effects for adults with left-behind experience in middle and primary school stages, respectively.

Adoption and intensity of agricultural mechanization and their impact on non-farm employment of rural women

This study analyzes the impact of the adoption of agricultural mechanization and its intensity on the non-farm employment of rural women using the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data. The study captures mechanization adoption as a dichotomous decision and adoption intensity using three types of farming strategies: non-mechanized, semi-mechanized, and fully-mechanized. Non-farm work is categorized based on work types (self-employment or wage employment) and work locations (local or migrated non-farm work). Both inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment (IPWRA) estimator and multivalued treatment effects (MVTE) model are utilized to address selection bias. The IPWRA estimates reveal that mechanization adoption increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work in general and wage employment and local and migrated non-farm work in particular. The impact is greater for unmarried women than for their married counterparts. The MVTE estimates show that relative to non-mechanized farming, the adoption of semi-or fully-mechanized farming increases the probability of rural women participating in non-farm work, wage employment, and local and migrated non-farm work, with fully-mechanized farming playing a larger role. Meanwhile, relative to semi-mechanized farming, adopting fully-mechanized farming does not have a significant impact on any type of non-farm work.

Marital house and marriage: evidence from micro-level data

Purpose In China, having a home before getting married is viewed as being a crucial indicator of the sincerity of romance. Despite recent increases in housing costs, men who have their homes ready for marriage stand out in the marriage market. This study aims to explore the association between readiness to marry, marriage age and the home that men purchase prior to marriage using the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey, the first countrywide follow-up survey with the theme of labor force. Design/methodology/approach The authors suggest new standards for determining the marital residence. In addition, contrary to the existing literature, which focuses on “Sheng Nu” (women who do not marry by the traditional marriage age in China), the authors focus on “Sheng Nan” (men who do not marry by the traditional marriage age in China). Findings The results show that men who own a house before marriage are reluctant to get married. The authors document robust evidence that the preexistence of the marital house decreases the willingness to marry and postpones the marriage date, regardless of location and time. Originality/value The authors document robust evidence that the preexistence of the marital house decreases the willingness to marry and postpones the marriage date, regardless of location and time.

For freedom or income? Depression among independent self-employed individuals and the mediating mechanisms: empirical evidence from China

Independent self-employment (ISE) has a crucial impact on new job creation as well as sustainable and inclusive growth. However, the findings on depression status among self-employed individuals are mixed owing to the lack of targeted classifications or the use of different classification criteria. This study investigated the association between depression and ISE, and conducted a categorical comparison of ISE. Using logit models, the study employed data from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) (N = 10,758) to explore differences in depression status between individuals with ISE and those with non-ISE individuals and employees. Further, intellectual and physical ISE were distinguished. This study tested the mediating roles of job freedom and income. ISE individuals were significantly less likely to experience depression than non-ISE individuals and employees. The odds ratio (OR) of ISE with depression was 0.828 times that of non-ISE individuals and employees. The OR of intellectual ISE with depression was 0.717 times that of non-ISE individuals and employees. The regression results of depression in relation to physical ISE were not significant. A mechanism analysis showed that income (rather than work freedom) reduced the risk of depression among intellectually ISE individuals. Significantly different risk levels of depression were found between ISE individuals, and non-ISE individuals and employees in China, particularly between intellectually ISE individuals, and non-ISE individuals and employees. Moreover, the mediating role of income was identified, contradicting prior knowledge that a high degree of work freedom is what leads to high happiness and job satisfaction in self-employment.

Preventing a new baby: Impact of air pollution on fertility intention

This study is the first to investigate the causal link between air pollution and fertility intentions in China, using data from the 2016 China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey to assess the fertility intentions of different sexes for differentiated groups of respondents. The findings show significant negative effects of air pollution on immediate fertility intentions. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the daily Air Quality Index in the past three months decreased the immediate fertility intention of interviewees by 0.7527 standard deviations. Moreover, the study reveals that young women who live in more polluted areas show a higher reduction in fertility intention than their counterparts. The results illustrate that air pollution is a key contributor to the son preference and that there is still a marked preference for sons over daughters in China.

Village clans and rural households' willingness to participate in domestic waste governance: Evidence from China

Rural domestic waste seriously damages the village environment and the health of villagers, and it is difficult to rely only on the government and the market for effective governance, so there is an urgent need to incorporate the village endogenous power into the domestic waste governance. Using a panel dataset of China Labor-force Dynamics Survey from 2014 to 2016, the article constructs an analytical framework based on self-governance theory, and employs an instrumental variable approach to examine the effect of village clans on rural households' willingness to participate in domestic waste governance. We find that village clans have a significant positive effect on rural households' willingness to participate in domestic waste governance, which is stronger when grassroots governments implement incentive environmental regulation. The underlying mechanism is that common rules and reciprocity embodied in village clans increase rural households' collective actions. Further analysis shows that low degree of clan diversity significantly promotes rural households’ willingness to participate in domestic waste governance. This paper offers valuable references to realise a rural environmental governance system based on the benign interaction between governmental governance, social regulation and residents' self-governance.

Income difference between highly educated migrants and highly educated local‐born workers in urban China

AbstractOur study explores the income of highly educated migrants in China. Based on the 2014 China Labor‐force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), we conducted Blinder‐Oaxaca decomposition of income among highly educated migrants. we found that highly educated migrants, with or without local hukou, have higher income than highly educated local‐born workers. We also found that highly educated migrants without local hukou have higher average income than those with local hukou. Given that the average income is high and knowing a foreign language is highly rewarded in the eastern region and that highly educated migrants without local hukou are clustered in the eastern region, a large percentage of these highly educated migrants know a foreign language and their average income is higher than that of other two groups. Our study demonstrates that not having local hukou, though it brings institutional constraints, does not necessarily lead to lower economic attainment in comparison to having local hukou. If a group has more human capital resources and is sought‐after by the labour market, its members have the luxury of moving to cities where they can maximize their income.

Social equity perception and public mental health: a Chinese study with panel data

BackgroundMental health is a vital part of an individual’s overall health and well-being, and the relationship between society and individuals has always been a focus of academic and public attention. However, the effect of social equity perceptions on individual mental health remains unclear.MethodsData were collected from 8,922 survey respondents with an average age of 47.533 years from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey 2016 and 2018. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale was used to assess mental health. A two-way fixed effects regression model was used to determine the association between social equity perception and individual mental health.ResultsIndividuals with higher perceptions of social equity were more likely to report better mental health (beta = -0.944, p < 0.01). Happiness, life satisfaction, and social trust partially play mediating roles in the relationship between social equity perception and individual mental health, while education and age play moderating roles.ConclusionSocial equity perception is a vital factor that affects mental health. Public policies should focus on helping less educated and older people improve their social equity perception to improve their mental health.

Digital transition and the clean renewable energy adoption in rural family: evidence from Broadband China

IntroductionThe increasing digital transformation and the global need for sustainable energy solutions have sparked considerable interest in the examination of digital technologies' impact on the adoption of clean renewable energy. However, limited research focuses on energy consumption in rural households, especially in developing countries such as China.MethodsThis study leverages the quasi-natural experiment provided by the Broadband China Policy (BCP) and utilizes data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) spanning 2012 to 2016. Our investigation aims to understand the effect of the digital transition on the adoption of clean renewable energy within rural families. We employ staggered Difference-in-Difference (DID) and Doubly Robust Staggered DID estimators to assess this impact, allowing us to explore regional heterogeneity.ResultsOur findings reveal that implementing the BCP significantly influences clean renewable energy adoption, although this effect varies across different regions. Specifically, in the middle region, the BCP results in a notable 5.8% increase in clean renewable energy adoption compared to non-pilot cities. However, in the east and west regions, the BCP is associated with a decrease of 12.6% and 13.5%, respectively, in clean renewable energy adoption. Dynamic effect analysis further indicates that the east region had already experienced high clean renewable energy adoption prior to the BCP's implementation, while the BCP positively influences clean renewable energy intentions in the west region.DiscussionOur analysis identifies three significant channels through which the BCP affects clean renewable energy adoption: population size, economic size, and income level. Larger populations and greater economic size enhance the BCP's impact on clean renewable energy adoption. These findings provide empirical evidence for developing countries that seek to harness digital development for technological advancement, industrial upgrading, and carbon emission reduction.

The Impact of Urban Built Environments on Elderly People’s Sense of Safety and Adaptation to Aging: A Case Study of Three Major Urban Agglomerations in China

Against the backdrop of accelerating population aging and scarce elderly care resources and facilities in China, the issue of the sense of safety among the elderly has received widespread attention. This article is based on data from the China Labor Force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) in 2016 and takes three major urban agglomerations as examples to examine the impact mechanisms of urban built environments on elderly people’s sense of safety. The results indicate that the characteristics of the urban built environment, the social environment, and individual health affect the safety perceptions of the elderly. Among them, urbanization rate, hospital facilities, population density, greening rate, air quality, and frequency of dining out have significant impacts on elderly people’s sense of safety. Simultaneously, good daily exercise and mental health status can significantly improve elderly people’s sense of safety. This article summarizes the existing problems of aging-friendly spaces and facilities in three major urban agglomerations, proposes planning strategies to enhance elderly people’s sense of safety, and provides a useful reference for urban aging-friendly transformations and an elderly-friendly society.

Have the new round of agricultural land system reform improved farmers' agricultural inputs in China?

China's modern socialist system completed the registration and certification of farmland ownership and continued to deepen the "separation of powers" reform at the end of 2020. This facilitated the transfer of land management rights and impacted investment in agricultural production. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the new round of agricultural land system reform on farmers' farm inputs in China's socialist system. The study uses data from the China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) and employs various econometric approaches, including the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) method to approach the objectives of the study. The results indicate that the new round of agricultural land system reform significantly promotes the increase of farmers' inputs in agriculture, including the area of land transferred in and self-owned, income from agriculture, number of agricultural labors, and specialized agricultural production. The study suggests that the reform enhances the positive impact of land transferred-in on farmers' farm inputs. The impact of agricultural land confirmation and "three rights separation" is positive in eastern, central, and western China. The findings suggest that public authorities should continue to improve the efficiency of land allocation and large-scale operation, cultivate new agricultural operation bodies, and improve the level of agricultural production specialization.

Car Ownership Behavior Model Considering Nonlinear Impacts of Multi-Scale Built Environment Characteristics

To explore the nonlinear influence of a multi-scale built environment on residents’ car ownership behavior, combined with the data set of residents’ individual information and travel-related data from the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey report, eight variables are selected to describe the built environment from multiple scales. The gradient-boosting iterative decision tree model including individual family attributes and neighborhood-scale and city-scale built-environment attributes is constructed. The results show that the individual family attributes have the greatest cumulative impact on car ownership behavior (46.3%). The built environment based on neighborhood scale and city scale also has a significant impact on residents’ car ownership behavior, these being 33.94% and 19.76%, respectively. The distance to the city center at the neighborhood scale is positive correlated with car ownership. The number of buses per 10,000 people and road area per capita in the city scale are also positive correlated with car ownership. Therefore, in order to slow down the increase in car ownership, the built environment can be optimized and adjusted at neighborhood scale and city scale.

Transportation infrastructure development and subjective socio-economic status: A quasi-experiment in establishing rural bus stations in China

Infrastructure construction has significant economic benefits for rural residents, but little literature discusses the impact on their psychological benefits. Setting the establishment of bus stations in rural China as a quasi-natural experiment and based on the 2014–2016 China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey, this study uses the difference-in-differences model to examine the effect of bus stations on the subjective socio-economic status (SES) of rural residents. The results show that the SES of rural residents has significantly improved after establishing bus stations. In addition, the establishment of bus stations has raised the wages and operating income of rural residents, as well as medical and educational expenses. Thus, rural bus stations contribute to the accumulation of physical and human capital, thereby increasing SES. In terms of reducing information asymmetry, the construction of the bus station has a stronger promotion effect for groups with low education status and income levels. In terms of promoting factor mobility, construction is more helpful in promoting physical health and residents living in rugged areas. These findings contribute to the literature on social class in rural areas by clarifying the psychological mechanism of infrastructure construction's effect on SES.

The economic value of language in China: How important is Mandarin proficiency in the Chinese labor market? A bounding approach

To shed light on the effectiveness of promoting the use of Mandarin, this paper analyses the economic value of Mandarin in the Chinese labor market using data from the 2016 wave of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey. To address the self-selection issue, we use both an instrumental variable (IV) and nonparametric bounding approaches. Our results show that the overall return on Mandarin proficiency is positive, ranging from 10.5% to 49.9% across the whole sample. A driving mechanism is that workers with a high Mandarin proficiency are more likely to find jobs that match their expertise, which then increases their productivity in the workplace. We also find that the returns are heterogeneous across different subgroups: (1) Women benefit more than men, which suggests that language proficiency can help reduce the gender wage gap; (2) The return on Mandarin proficiency is statistically significant and positive for young and middle-aged workers, but there is not enough evidence for older workers; (3) The return is larger for individuals living in urban areas than those in rural areas. In addition, we find that the IV method cannot be extrapolated to obtain the marginal returns across different treatment groups, as its coefficient is incredibly large, thus overestimating the economic returns on Mandarin proficiency.

The beauty premium in urbanization: do more beautiful people have a higher sense of fairness?

ABSTRACT Using data from China Labour-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), we analyse the effects of beauty on migrant workers’ sense of fairness. We find that beauty can significantly increase the sense of fairness for both male and female migrant workers. In addition, we propose three potential mechanisms for this beauty premium: employment quality, social interactions, and personality characteristics. Our results show gender differences in the mechanisms, which may be related to social preferences and family division of labour in traditional Chinese society.

Overtime work, job autonomy, and employees' subjective well-being: Evidence from China.

Chinese workers suffer more from overtime than in many countries. Excessive working hours can crowd out personal time and cause work-family imbalance, affecting workers' subjective well-being. Meanwhile, self-determination theory suggests that higher job autonomy may improve the subjective well-being of employees. Data came from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS 2018). The analysis sample consisted of 4,007 respondents. Their mean age was 40.71 (SD = 11.68), and 52.8% were males. This study adopted four measures of subjective well-being: happiness, life satisfaction, health status, and depression. Confirmation factor analysis was employed to extract the job autonomy factor. Multiple linear regression methods were applied to examine the relationship between overtime, job autonomy, and subjective well-being. Overtime hours showed weak association with lower happiness (β = -0.002, p < 0.01), life satisfaction (β = -0.002, p < 0.01), and health status (β = -0.002, p < 0.001). Job autonomy was positively related to happiness (β = 0.093, p < 0.01), life satisfaction (β = 0.083, p < 0.01). There was a significant negative correlation between involuntary overtime and subjective well-being. Involuntary overtime might decrease the level of happiness (β = -0.187, p < 0.001), life satisfaction (β = -0.221, p < 0.001), and health status (β = -0.129, p < 0.05) and increase the depressive symptoms (β = 1.157, p < 0.05). While overtime had a minimal negative effect on individual subjective well-being, involuntary overtime significantly enlarged it. Improving individual's job autonomy is beneficial for individual subjective well-being.