Influence of Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy-award Policies on Breeding Scale in China: An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Panel Data

Based on provincial panel data from 2004 to 2013, this paper uses DID model (Difference-in-Difference Estimation) to study the impact of grassland ecological protection subsidy-award policies on breeding scale. The results show that the implement of the policies since 2011 has significant impact on breeding scale. With the policies going on, the degree of breeding scale is increasing year by year, which represents the positive effects of policies gradually. Meanwhile, the influence shows obvious regional differences. There exists an obvious regional distinction in breeding scale, and the rate of western areas is higher than eastern areas. Furthermore, factors such as average education level, crop planting area per-capita, pasture area per-capita, and pedigree station number have significant positive influence on breeding scale, whereas factors such as proportion of agriculture employment in total population and drought inundated area have prominent negative influence on breeding scale. Although, other variables such as relevant policies and fund aiding to reproduction expansion are not significant according to the regression outcome, paying attention to these helps fully understand the influencing factors of breeding scale in China.