The impact of land consolidation on vulnerability of rural households: evidence from Central China

Abstract

In the context of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, the vulnerability of rural households is closely related to external risks and their responsibility. Recently, land consolidation has been widely implemented throughout China, which is supposed to boost livelihood capital and thereby improve rural households’ vulnerability. In order to examine this initiative, a case study was carried out in Central China. A matched Differences-in-Differences specification was adopted to estimate the effect of land consolidation. The results demonstrate that (1) land consolidation significantly reduces vulnerability by enhancing the quality and quantity of natural and physical capital, (2) the impact is highly spatially distributed, varying with the distance to the water source, and (3) the proposed model appears robust enough to explain the impact mechanism after a couples of robustness check. Finally, several suggestions are advised, including upgrading of infrastructure and facilities, reducing land fragmentation and adjusting the distance between cropland and the water source.

Keywords:

• vulnerability
• land consolidation
• rural households
• livelihood
• livelihood capitals

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was orally presented in the 57th Meeting of the Southern Regional Science Association in Philadelphia, March 2018, and observations offered by discussants during that meeting are appreciated. Special thanks are given to Dr. Prof. Douglas Southgate of Ohio State University, who offered useful suggestions to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant No. 2662018YJ007].