Does the type of investor matter? An analysis of fixed-asset investments in rural China

Abstract

There are two major types of investors of rural fixed-asset investments (FAIs) in China: collective FAIs and private FAIs. To analyze the effect of investors of different types on the efficiency of rural FAIs, we apply a two-regime spatial Durbin model (SDM) based on panel data from 1993 to 2012 in China. Our major findings include: (1) rural FAIs promote the rural economy, which shows positive spatial interdependence and the spatial effects differ across regions; (2) the investment efficiency of collective FAIs is weaker than that of private FAIs and decreases over time; and (3) rural private FAIs present significantly positive spatial spillover effects on rural economies, whereas rural collective FAIs show negative spatial spillover effects in the first-decade (1993–2002) sub-sample and no significant spatial spillover effect in the second-decade (2003–2012) sub-sample. Policy implications are proposed accordingly.

Keywords:

• Rural collective fixed-asset investments
• rural private fixed-asset investments
• direct effect
• spatial spillover effect
• China

JEL Code:

• R12
• E22
• Q14

Acknowledgement

We thank anonymous reviewers very much for their comments and suggestions. All faults belong to us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 CNY is the abbreviation for Chinese Yuan.

2 “Three rural” refers to villages, farmers, and agriculture. Fiscal spending on “three rural”-related issues aims to support agricultural production, develop social services, and subsidize food and agricultural materials like quality seeds and agricultural implements in rural areas.

3 The rural five-guarantee household refers to the old, infirm, orphan, and disabled peasants who have neither the ability to work nor the source of income in the rural areas. Their lives are supported by the collective organizations. Their expenses on food, clothing, medical care, housing, and burial are guaranteed by governments.

4 The “San Ti Wu Tong” system was cancelled during the reform of rural tax and administrative charges in 2006.

5 The China Statistic Bureau stopped publishing the China Rural Statistical Yearbook after 2013.

6 OLS regression results and LM test results are available on request.

7 Results of LR tests and Hausman tests are available in Table 4.

8 Mu is a Chinese area unit. 1 mu = 6.075 acres.

9 To the best of our knowledge, no codes are available to date to separate direct and indirect effects based on the two-regime SDM.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Project No. 13AJY006), the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Projects No. 71833003 and 71703088) and Chongqing Technology and Business University (Project Title: Theoretical, Policy and Efficiency Analyses on Narrowing Urban-Rural Income Gap).

Notes on contributors

Lingli Xiao

Lingli Xiao, a doctoral student of Chongqing University in China, majors in Applied Economics. The current research focuses on the study of economic and political relations between China and Countries along the Belt and Road initiative.

Jing Li

Dr. Jing Li, professor and dean of School of Economics in Chongqing Technology and Business University, has published more than 70 academic papers and reports in top journals in the field of economics and management in China such as Economic Research Journal and Management World, etc. Professor Li is awarded the title of ‘State Council Special Allowance Expert’ and is a candidate of the Ten-thousand Talents Program, a national special support program for high-level personnel recruitment in China.

Jing Wang

Dr. Jing Wang, granted PhD degree in Economics by Oklahoma State University in the U.S., currently works an assistant professor in School of Economics from Chongqing Technology and Business University.