Jilong Liu

Agricultural industrial parks have been promoted as a key instrument for agricultural modernization, yet causal evidence of their impact on raising rural residents’ income remains limited. This study evaluates the income effects of National Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks (NMAIPs) in China, clarifying the transmission mechanisms and distributional consequences for rural households and the urban–rural income gap. Using county- and household-level panel data (2014–2022), we exploit the staggered rollout of NMAIPs as a quasi-natural experiment and employ a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) design with two-way fixed effects, complemented by event-study analysis. Results show that NMAIP establishment raises rural residents’ income by approximately 1.83% on average. Mechanism analysis indicates that this gain operates primarily through employment expansion, technological upgrading, and capital agglomeration. At the household level, NMAIPs significantly increase wage and operating income but have limited effects on property and transfer income, reflecting constraints in rural asset markets. Furthermore, NMAIPs reduce intra-rural inequality and moderate the urban–rural income gap following an inverted U-shaped path (initial widening followed by narrowing), as benefits diffuse through value chains. We conclude that NMAIPs are an effective policy lever for inclusive rural growth, yet their distributive outcomes could be enhanced by supporting reforms in rural factor markets and public service delivery.

Agricultural Heritage Systems (AHS), which embody economic, ecological, and social sustainability, are critically important for leveraging these dimensions to advance the sustainable development of farmers’ livelihoods. Utilizing a newly developed evaluation index system for sustainable livelihoods, this study applies mediating effect models to cross-sectional survey data collected from farmers to investigate the mechanisms through which AHS conservation influences their sustainable livelihoods. The analysis focuses on two Tea Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (Tea-GIAHS) sites in Fujian Province, China: the Anxi Tieguanyin Tea Culture System (ATTCS) and the Fuding White Tea Culture System (FWTCS). The findings indicate that Tea-GIAHS conservation significantly enhances farmers’ sustainable livelihoods, primarily by fostering the scaling and industrialization of traditional agricultural operations. Furthermore, the positive effects are more pronounced among households with higher initial livelihood levels, higher incomes, and those primarily engaged in agriculture. Consequently, this study recommends that AHS sites enhance support for large-scale traditional farming practices among farmers and continuously improve and extend the industrial and value chains of traditional agriculture to further promote livelihood sustainability.

Achieving sustainable agricultural development necessitates a careful balance between the competing demands of environmental sustainability and food security. While extensive research has examined the economic impacts of agricultural parks, studies focusing on their environmental effects—particularly fertilizer usage—remain limited. Addressing this gap, this study investigates the impact of China’s National Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks (NMAIP) construction on fertilizer application using county-level panel data from 2014 to 2022. By leveraging the staggered establishment of these parks as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply a multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach. The results indicate that NMAIP construction led to a significant reduction in fertilizer use, a finding robust to a series of tests including parallel trends and placebo analyses. Mechanism analysis reveals that the reduction was primarily driven by enhanced agricultural labor and technology productivity. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the effects were more pronounced in regions with high-level fertilizer consumption, in non-major grain-producing or wheat-producing areas, and in specialized or single-function parks. Importantly, this reduction in fertilizer use did not compromise grain output; instead, it was accompanied by stable or even increased production, thereby supporting food security. Our findings demonstrate that the NMAIP policy can achieve a “win-win” outcome by simultaneously promoting fertilizer reduction and safeguarding food security, offering a viable pathway toward sustainable agricultural development and food system resilience.

The digital economy plays a transformative role in enhancing energy efficiency and promoting sustainable development globally. As a key manifestation of digital governance, e-government has emerged as a vital instrument for accelerating the digital transformation of public administration and modernizing governance systems. This study examines the impact of digital governance on urban energy efficiency by analyzing China’s E-Government Pilot City (EPC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach and balanced panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities (2006–2020), we find that the EPC policy significantly improves total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) by an average of 2.60%. Mechanism analyses reveal that digital governance enhances energy efficiency through industrial structure upgrading, green technology innovation, and foreign direct investment attraction. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that the policy’s benefits are more pronounced in larger, non-resource-based, and non-old industrial base cities, as well as in regions with stronger institutional environments and advanced digital infrastructure. However, spatial spillover effects suggest that while the EPC policy boosts local energy efficiency, it may inadvertently reduce efficiency in neighboring areas due to competitive dynamics and industrial relocation. These findings underscore the importance of tailored and coordinated policy designs to maximize the energy efficiency benefits of digital governance.

The conservation of agricultural heritage systems (AHSs) has played a pivotal role in fostering the sustainable development of agriculture and safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods and food security worldwide. This significance is particularly evident in the case of tea AHSs, due to the economic and nutritional value of tea products. Taking the Anxi Tieguanyin Tea Culture System (ATTCS) and Fuding White Tea Culture System (FWTCS) in Fujian Province as examples, this study uses statistical analyses and a multinomial logistic regression model to assess and compare farmer livelihood and food security at the tea AHS sites. The main findings are as follows. First, as the tea industries are at different stages of development, compared with agricultural and non-agricultural part-time households, the welfare level of pure agricultural households is lowest in the ATTCS, while welfare is the highest in the FWTCS. Second, factors such as the area of tea gardens and the number of laborers significantly affect farmers’ livelihood strategies transformation from pure agricultural households to agricultural part-time households in the ATTCS and FWTCS. Third, the high commodity rate of tea products, combined with compound cultivation in tea gardens, provides local people with essential sources of income, food, and nutrients, so as to improve food security in the ATTCS and FWTCS. These findings are essential for designing policies to ensure farmers’ livelihoods and food security through AHSs and other sustainable agriculture.