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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2019, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (10): 99-110.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20191011

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Causes for Labor Intensives on Forestland Inputs from the Perspective of Capital Heterogeneities: A Simultaneous-Equation MV Tobit Estimation Based on Households Data from 9 Provinces

Yan Li1,Can Liu2,Hongqiang Yang3,Youliang Ning4,Wenjian He5,Han Zhang1,*   

  1. 1. College of Economics and Management, Northwest A & F University Yangling 712100
    2. Economic Development Research Centre, National Forestry and Grassland Administration Beijing 100714
    3. College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University Nanjing 210037
    4. Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information, Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing 100091
    5. College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology Nanjing 210044
  • Received:2019-05-27 Online:2019-10-25 Published:2019-11-26
  • Contact: Han Zhang
  • Supported by:
    国家自然科学基金面上项目"集体林权制度改革对农户营林投入的影响机理及效应评价"(71873099);青年项目"基于双内生视角的非农就业对林地流转的影响研究——以福建、江西、云南集体林区为例"(71403213);教育部人文社会科学研究规划基金项目"集体林权制度改革对农户营林投入的影响研究:基于产权激励、劳动配置和要素替代的视角"(18YJA790104);西北农林科技大学基本科研业务费人文社科项目"集体林权制度改革对农户林地投入的效应评价及提升路径研究"(2018RWSK06)

Abstract:

Objective: This study aims to analyze the input structure of forest farmers' factors, in order to reveal the reasons why the investment in forestry is always targeted at labor-intensive sectors, in order to provide decision-making support to improve farmers' incentives on forestland management and stimulate the transition from labor intensive to capital intensive. Method: Based on the perspective of capital heterogeneities, this paper establishes a theoretical framework on the relationship between labor and capital investment on forestland. Then, a household survey dataset is employed to examine the hypotheses, which covers 9 provinces and is conducted by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. Since the features of joint interdependence, endogeneity and censoring, this study adopted the modified Nelson-Olson two stage approach to study the relationship between capital and labor input and its influencing factors. The modified technique combines the Nelson-Olson approach and the MV Tobit method, in order to improve the estimation efficiency.Result: The estimation results showed that the coefficients of labor and the whole capital were significantly positive, reflecting the significant complementary relationship between them. However, the relationship is dependent on capital's heterogeneities. In detail, the relationship between labor and yield-incremental capital is significantly complementary, while it is substituted for labor and labor-saving capital. However, the substitution relationship is not significant, which is not in line with the expected path of Hayami-Ruttan's technological change. Further investigations showed that the substitution between labor and labor-saving capital would be weakened by three factors, i.e., the low ratio of labor-saving capital, the unsound social service system in forestry and the varied topography of forestland. This weakness would lead to the dominance of the complementary relationship between yield-incremental capital and labor, which is the main reason of why labor and the total capital are complementary. In addition, the wage in off-farm sector has a negative effect on farmers' investment decision, while the role of timber price is not significant. Objective: There is a complementary relationship between labor and capital investment on forestland, which is opposite to that on farmland. This relationship is mainly caused by the nature of forestland management, and reflects that the findings on farmland cannot be directly used on forestland decisions. This unusual relationship would provide a useful perspective on why forestland investment is not evolved from labor-intensive to capital-intensive. In detail, the complementary relationship between total capital and labor means that forestland investment would be labor-intensive. It cannot be evolved into a capital-intensive along the expected path of Hayami-Ruttan's technological change. These findings are beneficial to improve farmers' incentives on forestland management and stimulate an evolution of factor inputs from labor intensive to capital intensive. Currently, the social service system in agriculture has been emphasized deeply, which is not the case in forestry. Therefore, in the follow-up tenure reform, it is emergent to establish a sound social service system, especially on the development of mechanization in forestry sector.

Key words: labor-intensive, factor substitution, yield-incremental capital, labor-saving capital, modified Nelson-Olson estimates

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