Labor Surplus and Agricultural Households in the People's Republic of China

A model of an agricultural household is utilized to derive the rural Chinese household's labor demand equations for the farm and the off-farm supply equations of the husband and wife. The income and wage elasticities are discussed and an econometric model of the decision to work in the off-farm market is examined. The possibility of binding non-negativity constraints exists due to the value of the individual's decision not to work off of the far.