Table 3 Key livelihood capital variables influencing livelihood strategy selection.
Dimension | Variable | Description | Types of variables |
|---|---|---|---|
Household | Arable land area per capita (hectares / person) | Arable land area / Total family population. The “arable land area” in this study specifically refers to the sown area. | Continuous variable |
Grassland area per capita (hectares / person) | Grassland area / Total family population | Continuous variable | |
The proportion of family labor | Number of laborers in the household / Total family population*100% | Continuous variable | |
The average education level of the labor force | Average education level of all family members by assigned value: junior high school or below = 1; senior high school; specialized secondary school, or technical school=2, junior college, university, or higher=3. Although individual educational attainment is an ordinal discrete variable, the computed household average is treated as a continuous variable for analysis, as it takes on a range of decimal values and better captures subtle differences between households. | Continuous variable | |
Per capita annual household income | Family total income / Total family population | Continuous variable | |
Family savings | The specific amount of family saving (If the family’s debt is a, then this indicator value would be -a) | Continuous variable | |
Labor force | Arable land area per capita (hectares / person) | Arable land area / Total family population. The “arable land area” in this study specifically refers to the sown area. | Continuous variable |
Grassland area per capita (hectares / person) | Grassland area / Total family population | Continuous variable | |
Education level | Education level of the labor force by assigned value: junior high school or below = 1; senior high school; specialized secondary school, or technical school = 2, junior college, university, or higher = 3 | Ordinal variable | |
Gender | Denotes the gender of the labor force. Male = 1, female = 2 | Nominal variable | |
Age | Denotes the age of the labor force. 18–30 = 1, 31-50 = 2, over 50 = 3 | Ordinal Variable |
