How do contract performance rates affect entrepreneurs' risk-averse attitudes? Evidence from China.

Introduction: Entrepreneurs' attitudes toward risk is one of the most critical factors influencing business growth and economic development. Therefore, addressing the influencing factors and formation mechanisms of entrepreneurs' risk attitudes has become a crucial research endeavor. In this paper, we examine how contract performance rates affect entrepreneurs' risk attitudes through the mediating effect of subjective well-being as well as assess the moderating effect of the regional business environment on this relationship. Methods: The ordered probit regression technique was employed to analyze the data obtained from 3,660 sampled respondents from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey. All analysis was performed using Stata 15.0. Results: The empirical results show that contract performance rates have a substantial positive indirect effect on entrepreneurs' degree of risk aversion through improved subjective well-being. The regional business environment plays a negative regulatory role in the relationship between contract performance rates and entrepreneurs' risk aversion. Furthermore, urban-rural heterogeneity appears to consistently determine the extent of the influence of contract performance rates on entrepreneurs' risk attitudes. Conclusion: To reduce entrepreneurs' risk aversion and enhance social and economic activity, the government should improve regional business environments by taking specific measures. Our study contributes to the empirical understanding of entrepreneurs' investment decisions in the context of urban and rural environments.

Does the energy consumption revolution improve the health of elderly adults in rural areas? Evidence from China.

About 2.8 billion people around the world still depend on biomass as their primary energy source. This traditional custom affects the environment and severely impacts the health and life quality of the rural residents, especially in the elderly group. Based on the published data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2018, this paper carefully explores the impact of the energy consumption revolution on the health of rural elderly adults and its response mechanism. The results from the empirical analysis show that: (1) The positive response of rural families to the energy consumption revolution can significantly improve the elderly adults' health condition; (2) The energy consumption revolution can improve the rural elderly adults' health by enhancing the home environmental sanitation (home environmental effect) and life satisfaction (psychological effect); (3) In the process of energy consumption revolution affecting the rural elderly's health, the factor age plays a negative regulatory role, in other words, the older the elderly, the lower the marginal effect of energy consumption revolution on their health improvement. This paper uses the propensity score matching method to deal with the endogenous problem of the regression model, and uses a placebo test and the substitution estimation method to check the robustness of the empirical results. As well, this research puts forward some policy suggestions, such as increasing investment in energy infrastructure in rural areas, reducing the cost of using clean energy, combining environmental energy protection with increasing energy income, and improving medical security conditions in rural areas.

Does Participation in Local Non-agricultural Employment Improve the Mental Health of Elderly Adults in Rural Areas? Evidence From China.

A rising rate of suicide among the elderly in rural China has been recognized to be triggered by mental health-associated factors. This study uses 3,397 sampled rural elderly adults from China Labor-force Dynamic Survey in 2016 to explore the response mechanism through which non-agricultural employment participation by the elderly adults in rural China can influence their mental health. Utilizing the Multivariate Regression, Instrumental Variable and Propensity Score Matching methods, we find that, the rural elderly adults who participate in local non-agricultural employment significantly improve their mental health. Self-employment tends to have a greater positive contribution to the mental health of the elderly population than waged employment. Further, work income, need for belongingness and respect, and human capital development significantly mediates the influence of participation in local non-agricultural employment on the mental health of the elderly adults. Finally, we put forward relevant policy suggestions to improving the mental health of the elderly in the countryside.

Does farmer entrepreneurship alleviate rural poverty in China? Evidence from Guangxi Province.

In recent years, entrepreneurship has been gaining more prominence as a potential tool for solving poverty in developing countries. This paper mainly examines the relationship between farmer entrepreneurship and rural poverty alleviation in China by assessing the contribution of farm entrepreneurs towards overcoming poverty. Data were collected from 309 employees of farmer entrepreneurships in Guangxi Province through survey questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to conduct an analysis of the effects of three identified capabilities of farm entrepreneurs-economic, educational and knowledge, and socio-cultural capabilities-on attitude towards farmer entrepreneurship growth and the qualitative growth of farmer entrepreneurship and how these in turn affect rural poverty, using AMOS 21. The findings show that socio-cultural capability has the greatest influence on farmer entrepreneurship growth (ß = 0.50, p<0.001). The qualitative growth of farmer entrepreneurship also more significantly impacts rural poverty (ß = 0.69, p<0.001) than attitude towards farmer entrepreneurship growth. This study suggests that policy makers in China should involve more rural farmers in the targeted poverty alleviation strategies of the government by equipping rural farmers with entrepreneurial skills. This can serve as a sustainable, bottom-up approach to alleviating rural poverty in remote areas of the country. The study also extends the literature on the farmer entrepreneurship-rural poverty alleviation nexus in China, and this can serve as a lesson for other developing countries in the fight against rural poverty.