Rural income growth, ethnic differences, and household cooking fuel choice: Evidence from China

Abstract

This paper investigates the associations between rural income growth, ethnic differences, and household cooking fuel choice, using the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey data. We consider the presence of fuel-stacking behavior (using multiple fuels) amongst survey households and categorize cooking fuels into clean fuels, non-clean fuels, and mixed fuels. Data collected from 6,461 rural households are estimated using a multinomial logit model. Findings suggest that relative to households at the lowest income quintile 1, those at the income quintiles 2-5 are more likely to use clean fuels but are less likely to use non-clean fuels for cooking, and the magnitudes of the effects increase across the income quintiles. Compared with the majority Han Chinese households, ethnic minority households are more likely to use mixed fuels but are less likely to use clean fuels for cooking. Only those ethnic minority households at the highest income level (quintile 5) appear to be more likely to use clean cooking fuels.