Yingtan Mu and Xin Yuan
At the end of the 1970s, the Chinese government enacted the one-child policy; now the one-child successively enters into the labor market and reaches the age for marriage and…
Abstract
Purpose
At the end of the 1970s, the Chinese government enacted the one-child policy; now the one-child successively enters into the labor market and reaches the age for marriage and childbirth. The floating population group of China’s interior regions also experiences the heterogeneity changes. The purpose of this paper is to analyses the reasons for the difference of family migration between one-child and non-only child using the binary logit regression model – from the three aspects of individual characteristics, family endowment and institutional factors were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
Family migration or individual migration of the floating population is the dichotomous dependent variable and therefore the binomial logistic regression analysis model is selected.
Findings
It is found that the tendency of one-child family migration is significantly higher than that of non-only child. The main reason is that the one-child has obvious advantages in terms of individual characteristics, family endowment and institutional factors.
Originality/value
The previous researches on family migration: first, the previous researches mainly analyzed the impact of the human capital and family income on the family migration from the perspective of economics and neglected the discussion on the family structure, life cycle, family level factors and Hukou’s limitation; second, most researches considered the migration as a whole. In fact, the migration population is no longer a highly homogeneous group and gradually become diversified.
Details
Keywords
Fang Li, Shuyi Feng, Hualiang Lu, Futian Qu and Marijke D'Haese
This paper investigates the relationship between plot size and fertilizer use efficiency (FE) in Chinese large-scale farming and searches for the underlying mechanisms that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the relationship between plot size and fertilizer use efficiency (FE) in Chinese large-scale farming and searches for the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a household- and plot-level data set of large-scale production units (LSPUs) from Jiangsu and Jiangxi Provinces, the technical and fertilizer use efficiency of large-scale rice production is estimated by applying a translog stochastic frontier production function. The authors impose a monotonicity condition on the translog frontier using a three-step procedure to get theoretically consistent efficiency estimates. A beta regression model is then used to explore the association between plot size and LSPUs' efficiency in fertilizer application.
Findings
The average FE for the sampled plots is around 30%, which shows a large potential for LSPUs to reduce fertilizer use. A U-shaped relationship is observed between plot size and FE. The authors relate this non-linear pattern to the substitution of labour with capital-intensive technology and the efficiency differences in terms of farming performance between family and hired workers.
Originality/value
First, according to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is a first attempt to study the size–efficiency relationship focussing on fertilization practices of large-scale farming. The second contribution lies in the large-scale ranges of the plot-level data set. Third, efforts are made to reveal the mechanisms determining the plot size–FE relationship. Fourth, the authors provide guiding evidence for policymaking, as they show that the size of individual plots deserves equal attention in land consolidation decisions. Methodologically, this paper improves existing estimates of single-factor technical efficiency issued from a restricted production frontier model.