Rural development in the digital age: Does information and communication technology adoption contribute to credit access and income growth in rural China?

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in rural livelihoods and household well-being. Therefore, this study examines the impact of ICT adoption on farmers' decisions to access credit and the joint effects of ICT adoption and access to credit on household income using 2016 China Labour-force Dynamics Survey data. Both recursive bivariate probit model and a selectivity-corrected ordinary least square regression model are employed for the analysis. The results show that ICT adoption increases the probability of access to credit by 12.8% in rural China and empowers rural women and farm households in relatively less-developed regions to access credit. ICT adoption and access to credit affect household income differently. ICT adoption significantly increases household income, while access to credit significantly reduces it, primarily because farmers do not use the acquired credit to invest in income-generating farm and off-farm business activities. ICT adoption has the largest positive impact on household income at the highest 90th quantile. Our findings suggest that improving rural ICT infrastructure to enhance farmers' ICT adoption and developing ICT-based financial products to enable households to access sufficient funds can improve rural household welfare

Impacts of plot size on maize yields and farm profits: Implications for sustainable land use and food security

This paper examines the impact of plot size on maize yields and farm profits, using plot-level data collected from Chinese maize farmers in 2013 and 2015. Unlike previous studies that have used either a parametric or non-parametric model, this study estimates a semi-parametric model. This model simultaneously estimates the impact of plot size on maize yields and farm profits non-parametrically and the impact of other control variables on the two outcome variables parametrically, which provides more insights. The findings reveal that plot size affects maize yields and farm profits differently. There is a ‘pan-shaped’ relationship between plot size and maize yields. Specifically, we show that when increasing plot size from 0.1 to 1.5 mu and then to 65 mu, the maize yields decrease first and then become stable. When plot size is above 65 mu, maize yields increase as plot size increases. In comparison, our results indicate that as plot size increases, the farm profits of maize production monotonically increase. Our findings have important implications for sustainable land use and food security

Impact of Grassland Transfer on Technical Efficiency of Livestock Production in Northern China

This paper estimates the impact of grassland transfer on the technical efficiency of livestock production, using the cross-sectional data collected from herders in Northern China. The propensity score matching approach and selectivity-corrected stochastic production frontier model are employed to address the selection bias issues. The empirical results show that, on average, the average technical efficiency score of herders with grassland transfer is significantly higher than that of herders without grassland transfer, which are 0.56 and 0.41, respectively, after addressing both observed and unobserved selection biases. The livestock revenue is positively and significantly affected by forage grass use, machinery use, stocking rate, family and hired labors use, and veterinary investment. Our findings highlight the importance of facilitating grassland transfer to increase livestock production efficiency and boost farm performance

The joint effects of ICT adoption and access to credit on household income in China

This study examines the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) adoption on farmers’ decision to access to credit and the joint effects of ICT adoption and access to credit on household income. Both recursive bivariate probit model and a selectivity-corrected ordinary least square regression model are employed to analyze the 2016 China Labour-force Dynamics Survey data. The empirical results show that ICT adoption increases the probability of credit access by 13.9% in rural China, and it empowers rural women and farm households in the relatively less developed regions to access to credit. ICT adoption and access to credit affect household income differently. ICT adoption significantly increases household income with a larger impact at the upper-income distributions. However, access to credit exerts a negative and significant impact on household income due primarily to the reason that farmers do not use the acquired credit to invest in the income-generating farm and off-farm business activities. Our findings suggest that improving rural ICT infrastructure to enhance farmers’ ICT adoption and developing ICT-based financial products to enable households to access sufficient funds can help improve rural household welfare

Farm machinery use and maize yields in China: an analysis accounting for selection bias and heterogeneity

Crop production in developing and emerging countries is increasingly dependent on the usage of farm machinery. However, it remains unclear whether low-productive and high-productive farmers benefit equally from farm machinery use. To address the research gap, this study examines the potential heterogeneous effects of farm machinery use on maize yields, using an unconditional quantile regression model and survey data from China. We employ a control function approach to address the selection bias issue associated with farm machinery use. The empirical results show that the use of farm machinery significant increases maize yields for all the selected quantiles (except for the 80th quantile); the low-productive farmers tend to benefit more from farm machinery use relative to their high-productive counterparts; and farm machinery use reduces the inequality and variability of maize yields

Farm machinery use and maize yields in China: An analysis accounting for selection bias and heterogeneity

Crop production in developing and emerging countries is increasingly dependent on the usage of farm machinery. However, it remains unclear whether low-productive and high-productive farmers benefit equally from farm machinery use. To address the research gap, this study examines the potential heterogeneous effects of farm machinery use on maize yields, using an unconditional quantile regression mode land survey data from China. We employ a control function approach to address the selection bias issue associated with farm machinery use. The empirical results show that the use of farm machinery significant increases maize yields for all the selected quantiles (except for the 80th quantile); the low-productive farmers tend to benefit more from farm machinery use relative to their high-productive counterparts; and farm machinery use reduces the inequality and variability of maize yields

Farm machinery use and maize yields in China: an analysis accounting for selection bias and heterogeneity

Crop production in developing and emerging countries is increasingly dependent on the usage of farm machinery. However, it remains unclear whether low-productive and high-productive farmers benefit equally from farm machinery use. To address the research gap, this study examines the potential heterogeneous effects of farm machinery use on maize yields, using an unconditional quantile regression model and survey data from China. We employ a control function approach to address the selection bias issue associated with farm machinery use. The empirical results show that the use of farm machinery significant increases maize yields for all the selected quantiles (except for the 80th quantile); the low-productive farmers tend to benefit more from farm machinery use relative to their high-productive counterparts; and farm machinery use reduces the inequality and variability of maize yields

Depression and suicide attempts in Chinese adolescents with mood disorders: the mediating role of rumination

Mood disorders (MD) are often associated with a higher incidence of suicidal behavior, especially in adolescent patients. However, the mechanisms by which depression affects suicide attempts in adolescents with MD remain poorly elucidated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, and clinical correlates of suicide attempts in Chinese adolescent patients with MD, as well as the inter-relationship between depressive symptoms, rumination, and suicide attempts, and the role of rumination in mediating depression and suicide attempts. A total of 331 MD adolescent patients aged 11 similar to 18 years were recruited from a psychiatric hospital. Suicide attempts were assessed with the MINI Suicide Scale. Depressed symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). To assess rumination, we used the 21-item Chinese version of the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS). Overall, the percentage of suicide attempts among MD adolescents was 51.96%, with a higher percentage of females (58.62%) than males (36.36%). Compared to non-suicide attempters, suicide attempters had higher scores on PHQ-9, RRS, depression-related, brooding, and reflective pondering. Gender and RRS were independently associated with suicide attempts. Rumination played a fully mediating role between depression and suicide attempts. In addition, the mediating effect of depression between rumination and suicide attempts was not significant. The incidence of suicide attempts was higher in MD adolescents than in general adolescents. Gender and rumination were associated with suicide attempts in MD adolescents. Moreover, rumination mediated the correlation between depressive symptoms and suicide attempts, suggesting that rumination may be an important intervention component for clinical staff to prevent suicidal behavior in adolescents with MD

Sexual Dysfunction in Chronically Medicated Male Inpatients With Schizophrenia: Prevalence, Risk Factors, Clinical Manifestations, and Response to Sexual Arousal

BackgroundSexual dysfunction is a common symptom in patients with schizophrenia, especially in chronically medicated patients. However, the relationship between sexual dysfunction and emotional response to sexual arousal in male patients with schizophrenia remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the incidence, risk factors of sexual dysfunction in males, and their clinical correlations to sexual arousal in male patients with schizophrenia in China. MethodsA total of 162 male patients, aged 18-50 years, with schizophrenia were recruited from a psychiatric hospital in Ganzhou. The clinical symptoms were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The Arizona Sexual Experience Scale was utilized to evaluate sexual dysfunction. Erotic images were selected from International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Sixty-eight out of the 162 subjects completed the erotic pictures reactivity task. ResultsOverall, 48 (29.6%) patients were measured as having global sexual dysfunction, 72 (44.4%) patients as having strength of sex drive dysfunction, 51 (31.5%) patients as having sexual arousal dysfunction, 55 (34.0%) patients as having penile erection dysfunction, 60 (37.0%) patients as having reached orgasm dysfunction, and 60 (37.0%) patients as having satisfaction with orgasm dysfunction. The sexual dysfunction patients had significantly higher scores on the negative symptoms of the PANSS. The only important predictor of sexual dysfunction was the severity of PANSS negative factor. The sense of pleasure and arousal post viewing erotic images in the sexual dysfunction group were lower compared to the non-sexual dysfunction group. The sense of pleasure and approach motivation were significantly negatively correlated with the severity of sexual dysfunction. ConclusionsThis study shows that nearly one-third of young and middle-aged chronically medicated male inpatients with schizophrenia suffer from sexual dysfunction. The negative factor of the PANSS can be regarded as the risk factor of sexual dysfunction. Schizophrenia patients with sexual dysfunction experienced lower pleasure and higher avoidance motivation than non-sexual dysfunction patients when exposed to erotic stimuli.</p