Exploring the impact and mechanism of the new round of grassland titling on herders' technical efficiency: Study on the three-stage data of Urad Middle Banner

In arid and semi-arid pastoral areas, pastoralism is the most sustainable agro-food system. However, the current grassland degradation caused by overgrazing and climate change has threatened livestock production and herders' livelihood. Exploring the impact and mechanism of land titling on the technical efficiency (TE) of herders can help curb grassland degradation and improve herder livelihoods with institutional arrangements. Based on three periods of panel data of 2014, 2017 and 2020 from field interviews with 299 herder households collected in five sumus and towns in Urad Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia, this study used Stochastic Frontier Analysis to examine the impact of the new round of grassland titling on TE, and explored the impact mechanism using Binary Choice Model and Two-way Fixed Effects Model. The TE analysis showed that titling was associated with higher technical efficiency, as shown by a 0.367 higher mean TE value for confirmed herders compared to unconfirmed ones. The influencing mechanism mainly manifested as direct incentive effect and grassland transfer effect, while the labor migration effect was not significant, i.e., grassland titling could improve TE by motivating herders to adopt more proactive attitudes towards utilizing and transferring grasslands rather than by promoting them to work outside. The study was expected to extend the application of land property rights theory to grassland resource management, thereby providing a theoretical basis for promoting grassland titling in other pastoral areas and a practical reference for enhancing herder efficiency and conserving natural capital through improved institutional arrangements.