Effects Of Spatial Gradient On Income Of Peasant Household And Their Regional Differences

In this paper, by introducing the key variable "spatial gradient", using the data from the Chinese general social survey (CGSS2006) we have a detail study on the spatial gradient differences in the effect of non-agriculturization, human capital and social network on peasant household income and the specific effects of these differences in different market areas. The study reveals the following findings. On the macro level, the regional non-agriculturization has an obvious positive effect on peasant household income near the city, but only a small promotion in the remote areas; on the micro level, domestic non-agriculturization plays an obvious role on increasing household income in the remote areas, but such promoting effect is relatively small in the areas close to the city. In terms of the human capital characterized by education, the closer peasant households to urban areas, the greater the marginal utility of income increment is, and vice versa; the human capital characterized by labor skills has no obvious spatial gradient discrepancy of income increment of peasant household on the whole; the positive impact of social network on the household income is more outstanding in the remote rural areas which are far from cities. The marketization, as a kind of institutional environment, can further enlarge or shape the spatial gradient discrepancy of income increment of peasant household caused by these factors, which mainly shows that the spatial gradient differences in the effect of the regional non-agriculturization, education and social network on peasant household income are more obvious in developed marketization areas, that the discrepant effect of the domestic non-agriculturization on the income is more obvious in developing marketization areas, and that the discrepant effect of the labor skills on the income has opposite features in different market areas.