Research on World Agricultural Economy

Does Informatization Cause the Relative Substitution Bias of Agricultural Machinery Inputs for Labor Inputs? Evidence from Apple Farmers in China

Congying Zhang

Institute of Western China Economic Research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

Jingru Xiang

Institute of Western China Economic Research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

Qian Chang

College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v4i3.900

Received: 18 July 2023; Received in revised form: 31 August 2023; Accepted: 5 September 2023; Published: 14 September 2023

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Abstract

The change of information scenario may change the market transaction cost of different factors, thus changing the relative price of factors and inducing the substitution of production factors, but there is no research to prove this. Therefore, this study takes labor-saving technology (mechanical substitution of labor) as an example, evaluates informatization from three aspects of information technology access, information technology application and information literacy comprehensively, and uses the probit model and CMP method to analyze whether informatization causes the substitution of agricultural machinery inputs for labor inputs and its heterogeneity. The results show that informatization has a significant negative impact on farmers' choice of labor-saving technology, and the result is robust at the regional level, but the negative impact of informatization on farmers' choice of labor-saving technology in the eastern region is smaller than that in the western region. The level of information literacy has the largest negative impact on farmers' choice of labor-saving technology, followed by the level of access to information technology, and the level of application of information technology has the smallest impact. The study concludes that informatization has not led to the significant substitution of labor by machinery in apple production. Thus, the results are important for enriching the theory of induced change in agricultural technology in the context of informatization.

Keywords: Information technology access, Information technology application, Information literacy, Labor-saving technology, Agricultural factor substitution

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