The Effect of Agricultural Environmental Total Factor Productivity on Urban-Rural Income Gap: Integrated View from China

Qiang Li, Xiaohang Wu, Yi Zhang and Yafei Wang
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Qiang Li: College of Continuing Education, Chongqing University of Education, Chongqing 400067, China
Xiaohang Wu: School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China
Yi Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China
Yafei Wang: School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) provides a measure of the efficiency of agricultural production, allowing for comparisons across time, countries and regions. Agricultural environmental total factor productivity not only considers the desired output, but also takes resource efficiency and environment friendliness into account. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis with slack-based measure (DEA-SBM) super-efficiency model, this research measures the agricultural environmental total factor productivity (ETFP) of 30 provincial regions in China. Based on the measurements, the spatial autoregressive (SAR) model and estimation method were used to empirically test the effects on the agricultural ETFP for the urban-rural income gap. The results indicated that from 2001 to 2017, agricultural ETFP in China grew at an average annual rate of 4.3%, and the technological progress and technical efficiency after decomposition increased by 3.6% and 5.9% respectively. The findings indicated that the agricultural ETFP growth has not only failed in narrowing urban-rural income gap, but further widened it. Changes in industrial structure, upgrades in market demand and increases in human capital have instigated the ever alarming urban-rural income gap. Indeed, the economic acceleration has a restraining effect on the urban-rural income gap.

Keywords: agriculture; environmental total factor productivity; urban-rural income gap; spatial spillover effect; Theil index; DEA-SBM super-efficiency model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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