森林资源培育工程对革命老区县域城乡收入差距的影响

Influence of Forest Resource Development Project on the Urban-Rural Income Gap in Old Revolutionary Regions

【目的】在推进共同富裕的中国式现代化宏伟目标背景下,探究森林资源培育工程的实施对革命老区县域城乡收入差距的影响及其作用机制,为新时代新征程中推动革命老区及其他欠发达地区的共同富裕和中国式现代化道路提供支持参考。【方法】基于2008-2019年中国28省650个革命老区的县级面板数据,运用空间杜宾模型分析革命老区县森林资源培育对城乡收入差距的影响效应,并从收入效应和就业效应两个角度分析其影响机制。【结果】1)森林资源培育工程对革命老区本地区、相邻地区及整体地区的城乡收入差距均为扩大作用。具体而言,表征森林资源培育工程的造林面积每上升1%,会导致革命老区本地区、相邻地区及整体地区的城乡收入差距分别扩大0.035、0.200和0.236。2)森林资源培育工程主要是通过降低革命老区农村居民收入和提高城镇居民收入,从而扩大了整体城乡收入差距。3)机制分析结果表明,由于革命老区生态保护、人力资本、地理区位等方面的限制,森林资源培育工程的收入效应和就业效应释放不明显,使革命老区陷入“森林资源丰富而经济增长缓慢”的“森林资源诅咒”困境,从而增大其城乡收入差距。具体而言,森林资源培育工程对革命老区旅游收入没有影响,收入效应不显著;同时,森林资源培育工程的实施只能带动革命老区农民就业于劳动边际报酬较低的第一产业,而未能提高边际报酬较高的第二和第三产业就业,甚至挤出了第二和第三产业,就业效应不明显。【结论】应从森林保护和区域产业发展相结合、推动地区间联合进行森林资源培育、加强林业和其他产业的协调发展等方面发力,将革命老区森林资源的“绿水青山”优势有效地转变为“金山银山”的经济优势,利用丰富的森林资源降低革命老区城乡收入差距。

【Objective】In the context of promoting common prosperity to achieve the ambitious goal of Chinese-style modernization, we investigate the effect of the implementation of forest resource development project on county’s urban-rural income gap in the less-developed regions and the underlying mechanism, thus to provide a basis to support common prosperity and Chinese-style modernization in the less developed regions in the new era.【Method】Based on county-level panel data of 650 less-developed regions in 28 provinces in China from 2008 to 2019, we analyze the effect of forest resource development on their urban-rural income gap using the spatial Durbin model, and analyze its impact mechanism from income effect and employment effect.【Result】1) The forest resource development project enlarged the effect on the urban-rural income gap in the less-developed regions, adjacent regions and all regions as a whole, specifically, a 1% increase in afforestation area leading to an expansion of the gap by 0.035, 0.200, and 0.236 in the three types of regions, respectively. 2) Forest resource development project widens the overall urban-rural income gap mainly by reducing the income of rural residents and increasing the income of urban residents in the less-developed regions. 3) Mechanism analysis shows that due to the constraints of ecological protection, human capital, and geographical location in the less-developed regions, the effects of forest resource development project on income and employment are not significant, which makes the less-developed regions fall into the “forest resource curse” phenomenon characterized by “abundant forest resources but slow economic growth”, thus increasing their urban-rural income gap. Specifically, the forest resource development project has no significant effect on tourism income in the less-developed regions;meanwhile, the implementation of the forest resource development project can only promote the employment of farmers in the primary industry, which has a lower marginal labor remuneration, but fails to improve or even squeeze out the labor forces from the secondary and tertiary industries, which have higher marginal labor remunerations, thus the employment effect is not obvious.【Conclusion】We should combine forest protection and regional industrial development, promote the joint development of forest resources among regions, and strengthen the coordinated development of forestry and other industries, to effectively transform the “clear waters and green mountains” resource advantage of forest resources in the less-developed regions into the economic advantage of “invaluable assets”, aiming to utilize the abundant forest resources in the less-developed regions to reduce the urban-rural income gap.