Influential Factor Analysis of The Farmer's Income Differences Based on Shapley-value Method - A Case Study in Liaoning Province

Along with economic development, the increase of farmer income difference has been seriously hampered the sustainable development of China in general and rural economy in particular, causing serious concerns on its social harmony and stability. Thus, narrowing down the gap of income difference between the rich and the poor in rural society has become a commonly concerned issue by the government policy makers and academic scholars in China. This paper conducts analysis on the factors which contribute to the farmers' income differences by taking Liaoning province as a pilot study area, and from which some relevant government policies are proposed as to reduce the income gaps for the provincial economy. In the process, first of all, a field survey was administrated by selecting the farmer's households from the central, the southern, and the western regions, respectively, in the province. A total of 542 farmer households' cross-section dada was gathered; second, the log regression model was used in analyzing those primary factors which contribute to the farmer income differences; finally, the Shapley-value method was utilized to estimate the rate of contribution of each individual influential factor to the inequality of farm household incomes. The results indicate that the two upmost important factors are singled out in contributing to the farmer household income differences: one is the work time farmers spent in going out of their residential areas and the other is the years of education farmers received. Based on those findings, some related government policies are proposed.