Offspring Education, Regional Differences and Farmers’ Subjective Well-being

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we use Chinese Social Survey (CSS) (2015) data to examine the influence of offspring education on the subjective well-being of farmers in China with the gologit method. We also test this relationship after accounting for the importance of farmers’ sense of equity regarding urban-rural, regional differences. Our analysis implies that to some extent offspring education has a positive association with farmers’ subjective well-being. Specifically, farmers with more educated children are more likely to have a positive outlook on life. Moreover, regional differences and farmers’ sense of fairness between urban and rural areas also affect the subjective well-being of farmers.

KEYWORDS:

• Farmer subjective well-being
• offspring education
• regional differences
• urban and rural equity

Notes

1. In the United States, 20% of the total population (estimated to be 65 million people) live in rural areas (Kozhimannil and Henning-Smith 2021). In Australia, 30% of people live in rural areas outside the city (Perkins 2012). Population diversity in the rural areas is implied in terms of gender, age, family structure, social and economic status and occupation (Kozhimannil and Henning-Smith 2021), although some studies indicate otherwise. Sobolewski et al. (2020), a study based on Poland indicate that the proportion of rural elderly is higher than those in cities.

2. See: World Bank Data: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS.

3. See: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2020/indexch.htm.

4. We present the OLS multiple linear regression model as a supplementary reference, and the subjective well-being as a distance variable to see the influence of each variable on the dependent variable. All variables in the model were statistically significant except the gender variable. The influence of children’s educational level on the subjective well-being of farmers is also positive; the influence of the added regional variables on the subjective well-being of farmers have a positive impact regarding the western region; the added urban and rural satisfaction variables have a positive impact on farmer happiness.

5. This method is inspired by this article: “Rong H U. Chinese people’s political efficacy, political participation and police trust”.