Relaxing rural constraints: a 'win-win' policy for poverty and environment in China?

Groom, Ben ORCID: 0000-0003-0729-143X, Grosjean, Pauline, Kontoleon, Andreas, Swanson, Timothy and Zhang, Shiqiu (2010) Relaxing rural constraints: a 'win-win' policy for poverty and environment in China? Oxford Economic Papers, 62 (1). pp. 132-156. ISSN 0030-7653

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Abstract

The link between institutional and market failures, rural poverty and environmental degradation suggests a ‘win-win’ policy intervention: relax local ‘constraints’ and achieve poverty alleviation and environmental goals. We evaluate the ability of the Sloping Lands Conversion Programme (SLCP) in China, a reforestation payments programme, to relax constraints on off-farm labour markets and achieve these dual objectives. Our model of the agricultural household allows for heterogeneous exposure to constraints and impacts. The model predicts that the impact of the SLCP on off-farm labour supply will be larger for constrained households if constraints are relaxed. To test the predictions we combine a switching regression with difference in differences. Applied to panel data, this technique allows identification of the heterogeneous impact of the SLCP on constrained and unconstrained households. Our results identify some support for the ‘win-win’ hypothesis in the case of the SLCP, and how the targeting of the programme can be improved.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://oep.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information:	© 2010 Oxford University Press
Divisions:	Geography & Environment
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Econometric Methods: Multiple; Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables; Endogenous Regressors > C33 - Models with Panel Data J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human Capital; Retirement > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O22 - Project Analysis
Date Deposited:	14 Feb 2013 11:51
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 23:49
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/48673

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