How the Reform of Rural Homesteads and Rural Revitalization Coupling Empowers the Rural Collective Economy

Rural homestead reform and rural revitalization policies support and influence each other, forming a coupled relationship. Based on the research data of 120 villages in four provinces of China in the pilot area of rural homestead reform, this paper empirically analyzes the effect and mechanism of the coupling and coordination of rural homestead reform and rural revitalization on the development of the rural collective economy by applying the coupling coordination model and the multiple chain intermediary effect model. The results show that the coupling and coordination of rural homestead reform and rural revitalization can significantly improve the level of rural collective economic development, in which the improvement of infrastructure and the optimization of industrial structure play an intermediary role. The intermediary effect of the optimization of industrial structure is higher than the intermediary effect of the improvement of infrastructure. In addition, the coupling and coordination of rural homestead reform and rural revitalization can also enhance the development level of the rural collective economy through the chain intermediary effect of improving rural infrastructure and then optimizing rural industrial structure. From the heterogeneity analysis, the mediation effect of infrastructure improvement and industrial structure optimization is stronger in the western region than in the central region. However, the central region can promote the development of the rural collective economy through the chain mediation effect.