Analysis of Factors Affecting the Outflow of Financial Capital from the Agricultural Sector of Villages (Case: Dehgolan County, Iran)

Villages have traditionally been identified and sustained with agricultural activities and have become the source of capital production. A type of capital whose role has been neglected in rural development is the accumulation of financial capital produced from the agricultural sector of villages and transferred to urban areas in various ways and forms and spent there. The withdrawal of income from the production of agricultural products reduces cash for investment in agriculture and the rural economy. At the same time, it can be the basis for increasing agricultural productivity and creating a platform for improving rural development indicators. In Dehgolan county in Kurdistan province, a kind of capital outflow from villages to big cities has formed, along with other factors, has caused the economic instability of villages. Despite the high income, adequate financial capital, and rich resources, these villages have not been able to use this opportunity to improve their development indicators, and the incomes from work and agricultural production are transferred out of the village economy cycle and transferred to the cities. The present research has analyzed the causes and factors of capital outflow from the villages to the cities and its effects and consequences on the local economy in the villages of Dehgolan county.

This research is descriptive-analytical research in terms of practical purpose and in terms of method. The methodological approach of the research is based on the comparative method. The statistical population of this research is 105 villages of Dehgolan county, which are located in five districts. The sample community is 15 villages selected using the stratified probability sampling method. The investigated samples were determined at the level of all villages based on the multi-stage cluster method with proportional assignment method from the respondents, and 340 farmer households (out of 2997 households in the sample villages) were considered the sample size based on Cochran's formula. The necessary data were obtained using a researcher-made questionnaire. Experts approved the content and face validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha test was used to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Correlation Coefficient test in SPSS software, and Structural Equation Modeling in Smart PLS software were used for inferential data analysis.

The current research has been carried out in line with research related to rural-urban links, with the difference that it has examined the relationship and effectiveness of each institutional-management, social, and economic factors with capital outflow from the villages and its transfer to the cities. In the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the significance level of the test for all variables is less than 0.05. This means that the data distribution of these variables was abnormal. Thus, the non-parametric test of Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between variables. In the Spearman correlation coefficient test, the significance level of the test between all research variables was less than 0.05. So, all the studied variables have a significant positive and direct correlation. The results of Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability of the variables show that the value of Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability is acceptable for all research structures. According to the results of the structural models seen in the second-order confirmatory factor analysis model, institutional-management factors with a factor load of 0.315, social factors with a factor load of 0.309, and economic factors with a factor load of 0.124, respectively, are the highest. According to farmers, they have the least impact on capital outflow from the villages. Therefore, the development and support policies of the government as an influential factor in the villages can lead to social and economic development by strengthening the villages' infrastructure and increasing the villagers' motivation to keep their capital in the village by guaranteeing economic security. Accordingly, the uncertain economic outlook for rural capitalists will be a justifiable reason for them to prefer to invest in a more secure environment (in the city).

Capital outflow is a phenomenon with institutional-management, economic, and social roots; if it flows from rural areas to cities, it will intensify the inequality and instability of villages. Based on this research, the most important institutional-management factors that affect the capital outflow from the village, which in the main of them are the weakness of the government sector's support and policies from other sectors (private, cooperative, and small operators) for investment in the village, the lack and weakness of the government's investment in rural infrastructure (such as physical development, cultural development, etc.). Also, the most important economic factors from the point of view of the activists of the agricultural sector in the villages are income generation and ensuring the return of capital, areas of investment in the city (land and housing, industries, banks, etc.), investment efficiency in the urban economy, employment security and activity in the urban economy. The benefit of investing in the city compared to the countryside and the flexibility of capital in the city can be mentioned. Among the most important social factors (aligned and related to economic reasons) are the motivation to invest in the urban economy (due to profitability and capital efficiency, return on investment, government support, etc.), well-being, and a sense of psychological and social security. Investing in the city is pointed out. Based on the results of this research, some suggestions are presented as follows:- Increasing government investment in rural infrastructure (such as physical development, cultural development, etc.); Applying incentive policies for villagers to invest in different sectors of the rural economy (for example, tourism, information and communication technology, etc.) and activating local managers and giving them more powers;Giving investment motivation and economic security to the target groups (major farmers), such as reducing taxes in case of keeping capital and circulating it in the cycle of the rural economy.