電子商務與農民收入和食品支出的相關性分析：菲律賓的實證分析

Abstract

從農業產業轉向服務業，菲律賓多年來經歷了這樣的轉變。然而，這導致了該國食品生產的停滯，並受到近期Covid-19大流行帶來的運輸和勞動問題的加劇。其中一個被認為是解決這一挑戰的方法是電子商務。這可能直接將市場銜接到消費者，從而降低了營銷成本，提高了農民的收入和運輸成本。此外，伴隨著這一轉變，食品消費量也可能出現同步增長。該研究旨在評估電子商務銷售對菲律賓農民月收入和食品支出的影響。此外，該研究還調查了幾個可能影響是否參與電子商務的人口統計因素。我們使用了菲律賓統計局發布的年度貧困指標調查中的農業工資調查數據集。該研究使用了傾向得分匹配方法，通過根據觀察到的農民特徵將未接受治療的群體與接受治療的群體進行匹配，以獲得更準確的估計。研究結果顯示，如果農民年輕、女性、已婚且居住在城市地區，他們更有可能參與電子商務。此外，研究發現，電子商務對收入的影響不如對食品支出的影響明顯。在檢驗人口統計特徵對收入和食品消費的異質效應之後，我們發現，電子商務的正邊際效應在教育程度較低且居住在鄉村地區的農民中更為顯著。研究結果顯示，電子商務有望成為提高農民收入和食品消費的工具，從而為通過農業轉型實現可持續經濟發展鋪平道路。

From an agricultural industry, the Philippines has shifted to a service-oriented sector throughout the years. This led to the stagnation of the country’s food production, which was exacerbated by the transportation and labor issues brought by the recent Covid-19 pandemic. One of the perceived solutions to this challenge is e-commerce. Potentially providing direct market linkage to consumers, this minimizes marketing costs, which increases farmer’s income and transportation costs. Coupled with this, a simultaneous rise in food consumption could be expected. The study aims to assess the impact of e-commerce selling on monthly income and food expenditure of Filipino farmers. Additionally, the study investigates several demographic factors that may be involved in deciding whether to engage in e-commerce or not. We use the dataset from the Agricultural Wage Rate Survey as part of the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey, published by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The study uses the Propensity Score Matching Method to acquire a more accurate estimate by matching the untreated group with the treated based on observed famers characteristics. The results show that farmers are inclined to engage in e-commerce if they are younger, women, married, and living in urban areas. Moreover, the study finds that the effect of e-commerce on income was not as pronounced as its effect on food expenditure. After examining the heterogenous effects of their demographic characteristics on income and food consumption, we find that the positive marginal effect of e-commerce is more prominent among farmers who have low educational attainment and rural residences. The research outcome demonstrates the potential of e-commerce as a tool in raising farmers’ income and food consumption, thereby paving the way for sustainable economic development through agricultural transformation.