The Impact of the Project of Returning Farmland to Forests on Narrowing the Income Gap of Rural Households -- Empirical Analysis Based on 3 231 Sample Rural Households.

(1) Background-How to steadily increase the income of low-income rural households and narrow the income gap of rural households through ecological protection and restoration projects is related to the sustainable development of ecological protection and restoration projects. It is necessary to analyze the impact of the project of returning farmland to forest on the income gap of rural households from a new perspective of the income increase and common prosperity effect of ecological projects, so as to provide a basis for the income increase effect of ecological protection and restoration projects and promote common prosperity. (2) Methods-This paper first proposed the research hypotheses based on the literature review and theoretical analysis. Then, based on the large-scale micro-sample data of 3 231 sample rural households from 25 provinces in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) Database from 2011 to 2020, Using the Recentered Influence Function ( RIF) model, this paper analyzed the impact of the project of returning farmland to forests on the income gap of rural households and its multi-dimensional heterogeneity characteristics. (3) Results-First, the project of returning farmland to forests has significantly increased the rural households ' income and narrowed the income gap between the rural households. The Gini coefficient decreased by 3.078 for every l% increase in the subsidy for returning farmland to forests. After replacing the explained and explanatory variables, the Gini coefficient remains stable. Second, the income gap of the rural households who returned farmland to forests was smaller than that of the rural households who did not return farmland to forests, and their income quantile range and Gini coefficient were significantly lower than those who did not return farmland to forests. Third, the effect of the project of returning farmland to forests on narrowing the income gap of the rural households who continuously returned farmland to forests was greater than that of the rural households who did not continuously return farmland to forests. Fourth, the impact of the project of returning farmland to forests on the farmers with lower education was more obvious than that of the farmers with higher education. (4) Conclusions and Discussions-First, pay attention to the effect of the subsidy for returning farmland to forests to increase the rural households' income, give full play to the social security role of the subsidy (or returning farmland to forests, and appropriately raise the subsidy standards. Second, increase the attention and support for the low-income rural households, the rural households who returned farmland to forests on a larger scale and other groups with weak income growth, promote the development assistance and public policies, and further improve the relevant policies of the project of returning farmland to forests. Third, appropriately extend the subsidy period, while combining the local natural ecological conditions and resource factors endowment, encourage the farmers to plant economic forests. Fourth, implement the distribution policy of subsidies for returning farmland to forests in a targeted manner, and strengthen the agricultural technology training and employment guidance for the farmers with low education levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]