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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2024, Vol. 23 Issue (5): 1774-1785    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.08.013
Agricultural Economics and Management Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |

Effects of formal credit on pastoral household expense: Evidence from the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau of China

Yan Zhang*, Yi Huang*, Fan Zhang, Zeng Tang#

State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China

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摘要  

正规信贷可帮助农民增加生产投入、促进消费、提高福利,对农牧业生产十分重要。在中国牧区,正规金融机构数量逐步增多,然而鲜有研究关注正规信贷如何影响牧民的家庭消费。基于对青藏高原牧区544个牧户的调研,本研究采用倾向性得分匹配法探究正规信贷对牧民的家庭总消费、生活性消费和生产性消费的影响。结果表明,年龄、草地能否抵押等变量显著影响牧民是否参与正规信贷。正规信贷可以显著提升家庭消费,尤其是生产性消费。异质性分析表明,正规信贷对富裕程度较高的牧民家庭的家庭总消费影响较大,而对富裕程度较低的牧民家庭的生产性消费影响较大。此外,中介效应分析表明,正规信贷可以通过影响牧民的家庭收入进而影响家庭消费。最后,本研究探讨了制定适宜的信贷政策以增加牧民信贷可得性等政策建议。



Abstract  Formal credit is critical in agricultural production, allowing more expenditure and productive input, thereby improving farmers’ welfare.  In pastoral China, formal financial institutions are gradually increasing.  However, a limited understanding remains of how formal credit affects herders’ household expenses.  Based on a survey of 544 herders from the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau of China, this study adopted the propensity score matching approach to identify the effect of formal credit on herders’ total household expenses, daily expenses, and productive expenses.  The results found that average age, grassland mortgage, and other variables significantly affected herders’ participation in formal credit.  Formal credit could significantly improve household expenses, especially productive expenses.  A heterogeneity analysis showed that formal credit had a greater impact on the household total expense for those at higher levels of wealth; however, it significantly affected the productive expense of herders at lower wealth levels.  Moreover, the mediating effect indicated that formal credit could affect herders’ household income, thus influencing their household expenses.  Finally, this study suggests that policies should improve herders’ accessibility to formal credit.
Keywords:  formal credit       herders       expense       Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
  
Received: 03 March 2023   Accepted: 12 July 2023
Fund: 

The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72303086), the Leading Scientist Project of Qinghai Province, China (2023-NK-147), the Consulting Project of Chinese Academy of Engineering (2023-XY-28; 2022-XY-139), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (lzujbky-2022-sp13).  

About author:  Yan Zhang, E-mail: zhangyanzy@lzu.edu.cn; Yi Huang, E-mail: huangy21@lzu.edu.cn; #Correspondence Zeng Tang, E-mail: tangz@lzu.edu.cn * These authors contributed equally to this study.

Cite this article: 

Yan Zhang, Yi Huang, Fan Zhang, Zeng Tang. 2024.

Effects of formal credit on pastoral household expense: Evidence from the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau of China . Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 23(5): 1774-1785.

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