The Impact of the Policy of Logging Ban on Household Income of Employees in State-owned Forest Region

ZHU Hongge;ZHANG Shaopeng;HU Qinxin;College of Economics and Management,Northeast Forestry University;

the policy of Logging Ban;;state-owned forest regions;;household income;;difference-in-differences

⑴ Background——Since April 1,2014,the policy of Logging Ban on commercial logging has been implemented in the natural forests in Longjiang Forestry Industrial Zone and the Greater Khingan Range.Then the policy has been successively extended to the key state-owned forest regions in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia.It is evident that the policy of Logging Ban has a profound impact on the economic and social development of forest regions.⑵ Methods——The study used difference-in-differences estimation method to evaluate the impact of the policy of Logging Ban on household income of employees in state-owned forest regions from the perspective of per capita wage income and per capita household income.The data used for the empirical analysis are from the monitoring project of reform in key state-owned forest regions from 2014 to 2017.2015 is set as the implementation point of the policy,2013 and 2014 are before the implementation of the shutdown policy,and 2015 and 2016 are after the implementation of the comprehensive shutdown policy.Reflecting the sample data of the income of 1904 households in the state-owned forest areas of 12 forestry bureaus affiliated to Longjiang Forest Industry Group, Daxinganling Forest Industry Group, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group and Jilin Forest Industry Group,2013-2016.Among them,there were 711 samples in the treatment group and 1193 in the control group.⑶ Results——The study shows that the per capita wage income of employees in state-owned forest regions decreased by 9.4% and the per capita household income decreased by 12.5% after the implementation of the policy of Logging Ban.The residential address has no significant effect on per capita wage income and per capita household income.The per capita wage income of families whose members work in other enterprises is 16.4% higher than that of families who do not work in other enterprises in state-owned forest regions.Similarly,the former is 7.2% higher than the latter in terms of per capita household income.The per capita wage income of the households engaged in agriculture and forestry management is 13.7% lower than that of the households not engaged in agriculture and forestry management in the state-owned forest regions.Whether the households are engaged in agriculture and forestry management or not,there is no significant difference in the per capita household income.The wages of workers in the Forestry Bureau have not been affected by the policy of Logging Ban.⑷ Conclusions and Discussions——The implementation of the comprehensive stoppage policy will significantly reduce the per capita wage income and family per capita income of the households in the state-owned forest areas.The burden of family size has a negative impact on household income,but the accumulation of human capital of employees has a positive effect on their household income.The salary of working in the enterprise is significantly higher than that of the work in the forestry bureau.Many households engaged in agriculture and forestry management at home do not have formal jobs,and the wage income is low,but the income from agriculture and forestry management fills the wage income to a certain extent.Vacancies,the cumulative impact of the comprehensive halting policy on the wage income of forestry workers is not significant.The State Forestry Administration should provide special financial support for the residents in the state-owned forest regions,arrange the transfer of surplus labor force,change the residents' conservative employment concept and encourage self-employment.