Can ecological restoration strengthen farm household livelihood resilience? Evidence from the Shan-Shui project and CHFS panel data
- 1School of Business, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- 2College of Economics, Management and Tourism, Xichang University, Xichang, Sichuan, China
- 3State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Abstract
BackgroundLarge-scale ecological restoration is increasingly expected to improve ecosystems and strengthen the capacity of rural communities to cope with shocks, yet credible household-level evidence remains limited.MethodsThis study links the China household finance survey (CHFS) with the Shan-Shui project (SSP) and uses a difference-in-differences design to estimate the effect of integrated ecological restoration on farm household livelihood resilience.ResultsThe fully controlled estimate is 0.1610, equivalent to about 2.7% of the sample mean of livelihood resilience. The result remains robust across parallel-trends and placebo tests, propensity-score matching, lagged outcomes, household fixed effects, province-level clustering, alternative sample windows and outcome construction, an instrumental-variable specification, and heterogeneity-robust estimators for staggered treatment timing. Channel tests indicate that the SSP is associated with regional industrial upgrading, household asset accumulation, and a higher probability of entrepreneurship. The policy effect is more pronounced among high-asset households, households in major grain-producing regions, households without government assistance, and households in areas covered by the broadband China program.ConclusionsThese findings show that the social value of ecological restoration depends not only on ecological recovery but also on whether households can convert new resources and opportunities into durable livelihood capabilities.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026ecological,
title = {{Can ecological restoration strengthen farm household livelihood resilience? Evidence from the Shan-Shui project and CHFS panel data}},
author = {Jiayu Yang and Jiayu Yang and Xiliu Lin and Dan Li and Jingtong Zhang},
journal = {Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fsufs.2026.1939724},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1939724},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Can ecological restoration strengthen farm household livelihood resilience? Evidence from the Shan-Shui project and CHFS panel data
AU - Jiayu Yang
AU - Jiayu Yang
AU - Xiliu Lin
AU - Dan Li
AU - Jingtong Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
DO - 10.3389/fsufs.2026.1939724
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1939724
AB - BackgroundLarge-scale ecological restoration is increasingly expected to improve ecosystems and strengthen the capacity of rural communities to cope with shocks, yet credible household-level evidence remains limited.MethodsThis study links the China household finance survey (CHFS) with the Shan-Shui project (SSP) and uses a difference-in-differences design to estimate the effect of integrated ecological restoration on farm household livelihood resilience.ResultsThe fully controlled estimate is 0.1610, equivalent to about 2.7% of the sample mean of livelihood resilience. The result remains robust across parallel-trends and placebo tests, propensity-score matching, lagged outcomes, household fixed effects, province-level clustering, alternative sample windows and outcome construction, an instrumental-variable specification, and heterogeneity-robust estimators for staggered treatment timing. Channel tests indicate that the SSP is associated with regional industrial upgrading, household asset accumulation, and a higher probability of entrepreneurship. The policy effect is more pronounced among high-asset households, households in major grain-producing regions, households without government assistance, and households in areas covered by the broadband China program.ConclusionsThese findings show that the social value of ecological restoration depends not only on ecological recovery but also on whether households can convert new resources and opportunities into durable livelihood capabilities.
SN - 2571-581X
ER -