How does the three rights separation of rural homestead (TRSRH) impact farmers’ sense of gain: Evidence from typical pilot areas for rural homestead reform in China

The three rights separation of rural homestead (TRSRH) in China represents a pivotal policy innovation aimed at facilitating the transfer of rural homesteads and fostering their efficient utilization. Here, we developed a conceptual framework and combined empirical investigation from China’s 10 pilot areas for rural homestead reform, using the Coupling Coordination Degree Model (CCDM) and Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) to examine how the implementation of the TRSRH impacts the farmers’ senses of gain. Our findings uncover that: i) The TRSRH significantly improves farmers’ senses of gain and the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) of their senses of gain, this conclusion is still valid after a variety of robustness tests. ii) The impacts of the TRSRH on farmers’ multidimensional senses of gain exhibit significant differences. The policy has the strongest influence on their sense of economic gain and social security gain, followed by sense of social relationship gain, while its impact on their sense of production and life gain was comparatively weak. iii) The impacts of the TRSRH on the farmers’ sense of gain varies across locations. The most significant effects are observed in outer suburbs villages, while the impacts are weaker in suburban and remote villages. Additionally, the TRSRH might lead to farmers’ non-comprehensive development and exacerbate rural development imbalance across different locational villages. The findings can provide valuable insights for the formulation of the rural homestead reform policies in China.