From Soil to Soul: Agro-Product Geographical Indications and the Subjective Well-Being of Rural Residents

Based on 2022 data from the China Rural Revitalization Survey, we examined the impact of Agro-product Geographical Indications (AGIs) on the subjective well-being of rural residents. The results show that AGIs significantly enhance the subjective well-being of rural residents. This conclusion holds even when employing the exposure frequency of a village in Chinese newspapers regarding agriculture as an instrumental variable for whether this village has an AGI. The propensity score matching test indicates that the subjective well-being of rural residents in villages with AGIs is on average 0.402 higher compared to villages without AGIs, which corresponds to 5.08% of the latter’s average. The underlying mechanism for this impact is that AGIs contribute to elevating household income levels and improving the ecological environment and basic public services within villages. Furthermore, the effects of AGIs are more pronounced among those engaged in agricultural employment and in villages with high governance capacities. These findings imply that governments might enhance the subjective well-being of rural residents by protecting and promoting local agricultural products.