Exploring changes and influencing factors of farmers’ welfare in different villages under the background of homestead system reform

Abstract

The reform of homesteads has a multidimensional impact on the welfare of farmers in different locations. Based on Sen's welfare function theory, this study constructs a welfare evaluation index system for farmers under the background of homestead reform from five aspects: living condition, economic condition, social security, community living, and psychology. Using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to compare the changes in the welfare level of farmers in three different locations of villages before and after the reform of homestead, and using a multiple linear regression model to test the influencing factors that cause differential changes in farmers' welfare. The research results reveal the following: (1) The overall farmers' welfare level has greatly improved after the reform, with the total fuzzy index increasing from 0.491 to 0.712, an increase of 45%. The highest increase was in the social security, which increased by 51.8% after the reform. The overall farmers' welfare level has increased in the following order: remote villages, urban villages, and suburban villages. (2) In suburban villages, the improvement of living condition, economic situation, and social security welfare is the most observed, while in suburban villages is psychology. (3) Family characteristics have an overall negative impact on welfare. In urban villages, the main factors are change in housing area, rental income, and whether own urban housing; while suburban villages are housing area and rental income.