Farmer differentiation, generational differences and farmers' behaviors to withdraw from rural homesteads: Evidence from chengdu, China

In order to solve the problem of idle rural homesteads, the Chinese government introduced a pilot policy of withdrawal from rural homesteads (WRH). Against the background of farmer differentiation and generational differences, based on field survey data from 1909 farmers in Chengdu, this study analyzed the impacts of farmer differentiation and generational differences on farmers' behaviors to withdraw from rural homesteads with the combined application of the binary probit model and the ivprobit model. The results indicated that 18.07% of farmers in the survey area had withdrawn from rural homesteads. Higher degrees of farmer differentiation inhibited farmers' behaviors to withdraw from rural homesteads. Compared with the first generation farmers, the new generation farmers were more inclined to hold onto rural homesteads, indicating that the most qualified farmers were more likely to choose not to withdraw from rural homesteads. Moreover, generational differences moderated the association between farmer differentiation and farmers' behaviors to withdraw. From a perspective of policy-making, land administrators and policy-makers should realize that farmer differentiation and generational differences are important factors affecting farmers' behaviors to withdraw, and therefore need to be fully considered in WRH policy-making. From a theoretical perspective, it was found that estimating the impacts of farmer differentiation and generational differences on farmers' behaviors to withdraw from rural homesteads without considering measurement errors and endogenous problems would likely lead to an under-estimation of the true impacts.