The Impact and Mechanism of Easement Reform on Farmers’ Income: Evidence from Qianjiangyuan National Park of Zhejiang Province

The easement reform of Qianjiangyuan National Park has realized the unified management of collective forest land accounting for 80.7%, but its impact on farmers’ income in the reform area still needs to be verified. Based on the two-phase panel data of 261 farmers in Qianjiangyuan National Park, this paper uses the DID model to identify the impact and heterogeneity of easement reform on farmers’ income level and structure, as well as the intermediary effect of employment structure. By changing the employment structure of farmers, the easement reform has significantly increased the per capita total income of participating households by 35.1% and the per capita non-agricultural income by 37.9%; After grouping farmers by age, it is found that the easement reform has significantly increased the per capita total income of elderly farmers by 26%, and the per capita agricultural and forestry income has significantly decreased by 92.6%, and the employment structure plays an intermediary role in this impact. The government should improve the relevant supporting legal system of easement, and create more non-agricultural jobs in the local area, so as to enhance the stability of farmers’ income．