农村环境治理对农业劳动生产率的影响及机制——来自中国农村自来水工程建设的证据

The Influence of Rural Environmental Governance on Agricultural Labor Productivity and Its Mechanism:Evidence from the Construction of Rural Tap-water Projects

农业劳动力大规模转移和农业劳动力比重下降使农业生产出现了机器替代劳动的过程,而这一过程并没有带来中国农业劳动生产率的明显增加,其根本原因在于中国农业人才的严重缺失。研究发现,农村自来水工程建设作为外生冲击,对农业劳动生产率的提升具有显著的正向影响。其作用机制体现在两个方面:第一,农村自来水工程的深入推进,使农村生活环境得以改善,能够引致人才流向乡村,形成农业发展的人力资本基础;第二,农村自来水工程建设通过环境规制的倒逼机制进一步催发和加快了农业采取现代化生产技术替代传统粗放型的生产方式。利用175个县级面板数据对上述机制进行了检验,实证结果与理论部分结论一致,最后提出具体的政策建议。

The large-scale transfer of agricultural labor and the decline in the proportion of agricultural labor have initiated a process of machine-substituting-labor for agricultural production,which has not actually resulted in a significant increase in China’s agricultural labor productivity. The root cause of this phenomenon is the severe shortage of agricultural talent in China. This paper finds that the construction of rural tap-water projects as an exogenous factor has a significant positive impact on agricultural labor productivity. Its mechanism is manifested in two aspects:First,the further promotion of rural tap-water projects has significantly improved rural living environment,leading to the flow of talents to the countryside and laying human capital foundation for agricultural development;Second,such projects,by means of regulatory pushback,has further spurred and accelerated the adoption of modern technologies of agricultural production to replace traditional extensive methods. This paper uses 175 county-level panel data to test this mechanism,in which the empirical results are consistent with the theoretical conclusions,and finally suggests specific policy recommendations.