The marketization of agricultural land affects the average land productivity not only through improving land allocation efficiency but also through reducing land price under the perfect market. The effect of the improvement of land allocation efficiency on the average land productivity is positive. However, when the agricultural land market is imperfect, the effect of the decrease in land price under the perfect market on the average land productivity is negative. By using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) database and the empirical framework for the inverse relationship between farm size and land productivity, this paper empirically finds that these two channels improve and reduce average land productivity by 34.4% and 1.4%, respectively, implying that agricultural land marketization in China improves the average land productivity by 32.9%.

This paper identifies the causal effect of commute time on labor supply in urban China and provides implications for the development of active commuting. Labor supply is measured by daily workhours, workdays per week and weekly workhours, and city average commute time is adopted as an instrumental variable to correct the endogenous problem of individual commute time. We find that in urban China, commute time does not have effect on daily labor supply but has negative effects on workdays per week and weekly labor supply. These results are different from those found in Germany and Spain, and are potentially related to the intense competition among workers in the labor market of China. Moreover, the effect of commute time on workdays per week is stronger for job changed workers. In addition, the effects of commute time on labor supply are not different between males and females. Finally, policy implications for active commuting are discussed.

This paper investigates how the deteriorating health status of an individual affects the marginal utility of non-medical consumption in China. By using 2011, 2013 and 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, we find that when the number of chronic diseases increases one standard deviation, the marginal utility of consumption will increase by 16.0% and 20.0% for samples of the middle-aged and elderly individuals over 50 and 65 years of age, respectively. This result is to some extent contrary to the findings from the US. Different economic development stages, intergenerational norms and bequest motives may be reasons for these contrasting patterns between China and the US.

By using nationally representative longitudinal data, this study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the addictive behaviors (smoking and drinking) of the general population in China. From the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018 and 2020, we extract a sample of individuals over 16 years of age in China, consisting of 14,468 individuals and 28,936 observations. We decompose the sample into three age groups, that is, ages between 16 and 39, ages between 40 and 59 and ages above 60. The bootstrap method is used to estimate the confidence interval of the difference in the mean of addictive behaviors, and logit models are used in the regression analysis. Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic reduces the smoking behavior of individuals above 40 years of age, and that it reduces the drinking behavior of individuals above 16 years of age. However, the pandemic increases the smoking behavior of individuals between 16 and 39 years of age. These results may be closely related to the characteristics of COVID-19 (that is, a respiratory system disease), the working and economic pressures of young Chinese and the role of drinking alcohol in building and maintaining social networks in China.