How Does the Concentrated Transfer of Farmland Affect the Development of Rural Collective Economy

Developing and strengthening the rural collective economy is an inherent requirement for comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and building a strong agricultural country, and it is also the only way to achieve common prosperity. Based on the sample data of 543 administrative villages in the two phases of the China Rural Revitalization Comprehensive Survey (CRRS) in 2020 and 2022, an empirical analysis was conducted on the impact of centralized transfer of farmland on the rural collective economy and its mechanism of action. The research finds that the centralized transfer of farmland has a significant positive impact on the development of rural collective economy. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion still holds. Mechanism analysis shows that the centralized transfer of farmland promotes the development and expansion of the rural collective economy through two channels: reducing the transaction cost of farmland transfer and increasing farmland transfer rent. The extended analysis shows that the centralized transfer of farmland does not harm the contracted rights and interests and income of farmers, but will increase the property income and wage income of farmers. Meanwhile, the centralized transfer of farmland can effectively increase the average yield per mu of crops, but has no obvious impact on the proportion of farmland rent in the net income of agriculture. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the centralized transfer of farmland has more significant promoting effect on the rural collective economic development of villages with a higher degree of isolation, a higher degree of political trust, and a higher degree of non-agricultural employment. To achieve the sustainable development of the rural collective economy, the intermediate service function of the village collective in the farmland transfer market should be actively exerted; the efficiency of farmland transfer and allocation should be further improved, and the marketization of farmland factors should be promoted.