Developing Village-Based Green Economy in an Endogenous Way: A Case Study from China.

The idea of green economy is being taken seriously all over the world. For developing countries, the key to developing green economy is to strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development. As the largest developing country, China has been exploring scientific schemes to deal with the relationship between environmental protection and economic development. Developing rural tourism is an important way to transform ecological advantages into economic benefits. However, the role of rural tourism remains controversial. No scholars have yet provided solutions for village-level practices in developing countries from the perspective of endogenous development theory. Taking Yucun, a village in Zhejiang Province as an example, this paper reveals the endogenous way of green economy development at the village level through the method of case study. It is confirmed that the key to transforming rural ecological advantages into economic benefits is to cultivate the village's endogenous development capacity, including activating local resources, cultivating local identity, stimulating local participation, and building a collaborative network. Only by implementing the endogenous development mode in rural areas cannot only stimulate the positive role of rural tourism and form a virtuous cycle, but also avoid the negative effects of rural tourism previously pointed out by scholars.

The Impact of Internet Use on Health Outcomes of Rural Adults: Evidence from China.

Health, as basic human capital, is quite important for rural adults. However, in China, the average level of public health facilities and services is far lower in rural areas than in cities. In recent years, the internet has developed rapidly in China, and is increasingly affecting rural adults in a positive way. The purpose of this paper is to reveal whether internet use can be an effective way to improve the health of rural adults. This study used three rounds of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) collected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. After eliminating samples due to attrition, the study included 7528 villagers who were at least 16 years old. A panel logit model was employed to conduct an empirical analysis. The results indicate that internet use has a significantly positive impact on health outcomes of rural adults. By using the internet, rural adults can find a large amount of health information, increase their social interaction, and maintain physical exercise to improve their health. Thus, it is important to promote internet use for health purposes in rural areas. In addition, internet use had heterogeneous effects on the health of rural adults of different genders, age groups, and education levels. Attention should be focused on highly educated older men to improve the effects of internet use.

The subjective well-being effect of public goods provided by village collectives: Evidence from China.

Village collectives are important providers of rural public goods in developing countries with dual urban-rural structures. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the public goods provided by village collectives and the subjective well-being (SWB) of rural residents. This study aims to fill that gap. Based on the 2014 round of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) survey data, this study estimates an ordered logit model of a SWB function to examine the role of the public goods provided by village collectives. The results indicate that village collectives' provision of public goods has a significantly positive effect on the SWB of rural residents by promoting the dual growth of household income and consumption. Village collectives' public expenditures on production, education, and public services also positively affect the SWB of rural residents. The public goods provided by village collectives have a significantly positive effect on the SWB of young and middle-aged rural residents but not on the SWB of elderly rural residents. Finally, rural residents with low levels of education and health obtain more SWB effects than do residents with high levels.

Socio-economic factors related with the subjective well-being of the rural elderly people living independently in China.

BACKGROUND: Many Chinese elderly increasingly face the serious problem of the "empty nest" phenomenon. The elderly living independently, also called empty-nest elderly, refers to elderly people living alone whose children left home. However few studies concerned about the subjective well-being (SWB) of the elderly living independently. METHODS: This study employs The Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH) to explore the SWB of the elderly living independently in rural areas of Wenzhou, a relatively developed region in China. 536 sampled are randomly selected. RESULTS: The results indicate that participants obtained low scores in positive affect, positive experience, and the total SWB score, but high scores in negative affect and negative experience. Age, low education, poor health condition and little income were found to be negatively correlated with SWB. The SWB score of the elderly living with a spouse is higher than those who divorced or lost their spouse and the score of women is lower than that of men. In addition, the survey revealed that children's support has a positive influence on the SWB of the rural elderly living independently. CONCLUSIONS: The elderly living independently in rural Wenzhou, China have unfavorable SWB. Poor socio-economic statuses are negative impact factors. But the children's support can help to improve. Special attention is needed to those with lower socio-economic status and less children's support.