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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2021, Vol. 20 Issue (4): 927-942    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63484-0
Section 2: Poverty alleviation through industrial development Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Impacts of formal credit on rural household income: Evidence from deprived areas in western China
CHEN Si1*, LUO Er-ga2*, Lita ALITA3, HAN Xiao4, NIE Feng-ying5
1 College of Mathematics and Informatics, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, P.R.China
2 Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, School of Public Affairs, China Academy for Rural Development (CARD), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310000, P.R.China
3 Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 16706, KN Wageningen
4 China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
5 Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
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摘要  

金融扶贫是2020年中国脱贫攻坚决胜战的重要举措,厘清以政府主导的正规金融对农户家庭收入的影响及其作用机制显得尤为重要。本文基于课题组2012年、2015年和2018年对中国西部贫困地区贵州、云南和陕西3省6个国家级贫困县592户农户家庭跟踪调查数据,评估了正规金融贷款对农户家庭收入及其作用机制做了深入研究。结果表明:第一,正规金融借贷能够显著提高西部贫困地区农户家庭收入。第二,正规金融借贷使得西部贫困地区农户家庭通过调整从事非农产业的劳动力资源配置和改变家庭“生产投资-消费”决策行为路径影响了农户收入水平和收入结构。第三,以政府为主导的正规金融贷款可能会拉大西部贫困地区农户内部的收入差距,农户本身的特征,如物质资本、人力资本和社会资本在内的资本禀赋状况是导致农户群体内部出现正规金融贷款引起增收差异的重要影响因素。本文研究结论为理解中国西部贫困地区金融扶贫效果与作用机制提供了理论依据,对中国政府完善相关政策提供了重要参考。




Abstract  Financial support is a crucial part of China’s poverty alleviation effort.  Thus, it is vital to understand how formal credit impacts income growth in rural households.  In 2012, 2015, and 2018, a survey was conducted to obtain a panel dataset of 592 rural households from 6 poverty-stricken counties in western China, including counties in Guizhou, Yunnan, and Shaanxi provinces.  We use the data to examine the effect of formal credit on rural household income and the mechanism that underlies this effect.  We find that formal credit can significantly increase rural households’ income in deprived areas in western China.  Furthermore, formal credit promotes the reallocation of household labor from the agricultural sector to the non-agricultural sector and changes rural households’ decisions about investment-consumption behavior.  These are the drivers of changes in the amount and structure of household income.  Further analyses show that formal credit may widen income inequality among rural households in western China’s deprived areas.  The individual characteristics of rural households, such as different levels of material capital, human capital, and social capital, bring about differences in the effects of formal credit on income growth.  This study emphasizes that the implementation of formal credit is an essential strategy for poverty alleviation in underdeveloped areas, but policymakers should not excessively interfere with the financial market.
Keywords:  formal credit        rural household income        rural finance        poverty-stricken areas in western China  
Received: 01 June 2020   Online: 11 November 2020   Accepted:
Fund: The authors acknowledge the financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71661147001), the National Social Science Fund of China (16ZDA021), and the Guangzhou Social Science Fund, China (2018GZYB45).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence NIE Feng-ying, Tel/Fax: +86-10-82109901, E-mail: niefengying@caas.cn    
About author:  CHEN Si, E-mail: chensi1005@scau.edu.cn; * These authors contributed equally to this study.

Cite this article: 

CHEN Si, LUO Er-ga, Lita ALITA, HAN Xiao, NIE Feng-ying. 2021. Impacts of formal credit on rural household income: Evidence from deprived areas in western China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 20(4): 927-942.

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