Social Interactions and Spillover Effects in Chinese Family Farming
Résumé
This paper aims to test the effects of social interaction and input spillovers on the agricultural
performance of family farms in mixed paddy rice production (organic and conventional farming). Using survey
panel data from a Chinese village, we adopt a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) derived from spatial econometrics to
disentangle the social interaction effect from spillover effects and to control for technological heterogeneities. Our
analysis reveals a negative social interaction effect indicating that an increase in the yield of neighbouring plots
leads to a decrease in the yield of the plot itself. We also find input spillovers. Labour, capital costs, water and
organic pesticides have positive spillovers while external nutrients (nitrogen and phosphate) have negative
spillover effects. Our study thus calls for a better understanding of social interactions and spillover effects
among farmers in the promotion of sustainable family farming.