The impact of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’ livelihood resilience：Effects and its mechanism

【Objective】 To examine the impact of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’livelihood resilience and its mechanisms，and to determine whether there was heterogeneity in the effect of rural infrastructure investment on far-mers’livelihood resilience across different regions，which could provide decision-making references for advancing rural revitalization and enhancing farmers’livelihood resilience. 【Method】 Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China （excluding Hong Kong，Macau，Taiwan and Xizang）from 2011 to 2021，this study measured farmers’livelihood resi-lience from 5 aspects：exposure，sensitivity，buffering capacity，learning capacity and self-organization capacity. Fixed effects model，system GMM model，mediation effect model and threshold effect model were used to test the impact of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’livelihood resilience and its mechanisms. The study also explored the mediating roles of labor transfer，industrial upgrading，and agricultural scale operations in rural infrastructure investment and farmers’livelihood resilience. 【Result】 （1）Rural infrastructure investment in the eastern，central，and western regions of China extremely significantly enhanced farmers’livelihood resilience（P<0.01，the same below），with the impact coefficient following the pattern：western region > central region > eastern region，and this effect has strengthened with the implementation of related policies.（2）In terms of the mechanisms，rural infrastructure investment promoted farmers’ livelihood resilience by apgrading labor transfer，agricultural scale operations and industrial structure，with labor transfer being the key pathway.（3）The regional heterogeneity analysis revealed that the effect of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’livelihood resilience was greater in the western and central regions compared to the eastern region，indicating great regional differences in the impact of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’livelihood resilience.（4）As labor transfer，agricultural scale operations and industrial structure upgraded，the promotion effect of rural infrastructure investment on farmers’livelihood resilience exhibited a nonlinear change. Among these，improving labor transfer and agricultural scale operations brought significant benefits as complementary measures. 【Suggestion】 To improve farmers’livelihood resilience，the following 4 measures should be implemented：（1）increase investment in rural infrastructure and improve supporting policies；（2）implement differentiated investment strategies based on local conditions；（3）strengthen employment security and improve the quality of labor transfer；（4）transform agricultural production methods to promote agricultural scale development and industrial upgrading.