Research On The Influence Of Social Relationship Network On The Circulation Of Farmers’ Forestland

Forestry has made important contributions to the national economic construction and ecological environment improvement.In order to further play the role of forestry in the development of the national economy,the reform of the collective forest tenure system was implemented.With the completion of the reform task and the division of forests into households,problems such as the fragmentation of forest land,uneconomical scale,and inappropriate allocation of factors have emerged.In order to solve the problems arising from the reform,it is necessary to carry out scale transfer of forest land divided into households and optimize the effective allocation of forest land resources.The forest land owned by farmers exists in rural areas,and the forest land transfer behavior of farmers occurs in the countryside.In rural China,a relationship network has been formed,centered on blood relations and gradually spreading to local,friendship and business relations.As the main production factor of forestry production,forest land mostly exists in remote mountainous areas,where economic development is relatively lagging behind,and formal institutions are lacking,while farmers live in more dispersed areas and the characteristics of traditional rural society are more pronounced.Then,will the widespread social relations in rural society have an impact on the transfer of forest land by farmers? If so,what is the mechanism of action between them? What is the degree of impact? Aiming at this problems,this paper conducts an empirical analysis on the behavior of farmers’ forest land transfer in and out from three dimensions of social network,namely clan network,external network and social network.Based on the China Family Panel Studies database(CFPS),this paper studies the impact of social relationship network on the forest land transfer behavior of farmers at the micro level.Firstly,the research questions of this paper are put forward by sorting out relevant domestic and foreign literature and analyzing the current situation of farmers’ forest land circulation.Secondly,based on social network theory,the hypothesis of farmers’ behaviour rationality,property rights theory,transaction costs and new institutional economics theory.The influence mechanism of woodland circulation,and the research hypothesis of this paper is put forward.Thirdly,using the CFPS database,the probit model is used to perform benchmark regression on the social relationship network and woodland circulation,and the endogeneity,robustness and mediation mechanism of the model are tested to verify the reliability and accuracy of the benchmark regression results.Finally,according to the regression results,the conclusions of this paper are obtained,and relevant policy suggestions are put forward.This paper draws the following conclusions: Firstly,the social relationship network significantly positively promotes the behavior of farmers transferring into and out of forest land.In terms of the influence of intermediary variables,on the one hand,social relationship network can indirectly promote the transfer process by reducing the transaction costs that need to be paid in the transfer process.Farmers’ forest land transfer in and out,on the other hand,the social network will indirectly promote farmers’ forest land transfer out by promoting farmers to go out to work.However,the indirect promotion effect of non-agricultural employment doesn’t hold for farmers’ transfer into forest land.Secondly,from the perspective of social network differentiation,in the model of farmers’ forest land transfer,clan network and external network play a significant role in promoting farmers’ transfer to forest land,while Internet communication inhibits their transfer to forest land.In the model of farmer’s forest land transfer out,clan network,online Internet communication,and offline face-to-face communication significantly positively promote farmers’ transfer out of forest land.Thirdly,after using instrumental variables to solve the endogeneity problem and conducting robustness tests,the result that families with strong social networks can increase the probability of forest land circulation still holds true.The research results of this paper can provide the following policy recommendations.Firstly,we should encourage informal systems such as traditional clan networks to supplement the formal system.Secondly,we should vigorously support the establishment of formal organizations related to agriculture,rural areas and farmers,and give full play to the composition of formal organizations.The role of the social network in obtaining information and reducing transaction costs.Thirdly,it is necessary to develop a new type of forest land circulation market,build a more convenient circulation platform for forest land circulation,and promote the soundness and development of the forest land circulation market.Finally,the government can cultivate forestry the main body of scale management supports farmers to manage forest land on a large scale in terms of policies and funds,so as to realize the optimal allocation of forest land resources.