POPULATION URBANISATION, RURAL–URBAN INCOME GAP, AND AGRICULTURAL CARBON PRODUCTIVITY IN CHINA

Low-carbon development is crucial for global climate governance and for maintaining sustainable economic, social, and environmental development.Urbanization and agricultural production are two essential factors in low-carbon development.Exploring the impact of population urbanization on agricultural carbon productivity is crucial for low-carbon development.To this end, we use the data of 31 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2004 to 2021 to empirically test the impact and mechanism of population urbanization on agricultural carbon productivity.The results indicate that population urbanization significantly improves agricultural carbon productivity, with notable geographic and functional regional heterogeneity.In the mechanism test, the Theil index and the urbanrural income ratio were used to measure the urban-rural income gap, respectively.The results show that population urbanization can increase agricultural carbon productivity by narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas.Reducing the rural-urban income gap is also an effective way to increase carbon productivity in agriculture.