The spatial spillover effects of rural labor migration on the agricultural production efficiency of counties: An empirical analysis based on a panel data of 1832 counties

County agriculture is very important to ensure food security in China. Studying the spatial effects of rural labor migration on the agricultural production efficiency of counties is helpful to better solve the labor misallocation problem in rural areas among counties and to promote the growth of agricultural economy. Based on a panel data of 1832 counties from 2002 to 2010, this paper examines the spatial effects of rural labor migration on the efficiency of county agricultural production and its regional differences. Results show that counties’ agricultural production efficiency of China increases with an average annual growth rate of 0.12%. From the perspective of geographical distribution, the agricultural production efficiencies of the southern counties are generally higher than those of the north, and the allocation efficiency improvement of agricultural production factors in the main grain producing areas is higher than that in the non-grain producing areas. Results also show that rural labor migration can improve the allocation efficiency of counties’ agricultural production factors with the spatial Durbin model. The spatial spillover effect of rural labor migration of adjacent counties on the agricultural production efficiency of the local counties is obviously positive, which is greater in the non-grain producing area than that of the main grain producing areas. Therefore, this paper suggests to speed up rural labor migration and to promote the flow of agricultural production factors among counties to expand the potential of counties’ agricultural growth in the main grain producing areas.