Land endowment and education investment behavior of rural households: a field survey based on 887 administrative villages in 31 provinces of China

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of land endowment possessed by the rural household on education decisions under the condition of insufficient rural land circulation and rural labor transfer. Results show that land endowment influences education decisions through two effects: income and substitution. For most rural households, the substitution effect of land endowment on educational investment is dominant. Meanwhile, the impact of household land size and the education level of the labor force on rural household income show “interval difference”; i.e., only when the logarithm of household land size is higher than the threshold of 2.014 can land endowment and educational investment be effectively allocated and raise rural household income. We suggest that limitation of land circulation be removed and the system be farmer-centered so that farmers’ income will be raised and rural labor will be better employed in urban areas.