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Barriers to labor mobility and international trade: The case of China

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  • Xu, Kai

Abstract

This paper quantitatively evaluates the potential impacts of removing China's Hukou system on the world economy. By denying migrant workers the right to health benefits and housing, China's Household Registration (Hukou) system presents a significant distortion to the Chinese labor market that discourages the reallocation of its labor from agriculture to non-agriculture. I find that the elimination of Hukou could increase China's real income per capita by about 4.7%. Moreover, although for most countries the impact of removing Hukou is modest (less than 1% changes in real income per capita), substantial changes in real income could take place for China's small neighboring economies. For example, the decreases in real GDP per capita are 2.7%, 3.2%, and 4.1% for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, while Thailand stands to enjoy a 3.8% increase in its income.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Kai, 2014. "Barriers to labor mobility and international trade: The case of China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 107-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:107-125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.04.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Qiao Wang, 2023. "Does the Chinese labour force make sufficient efforts? Empirical evidence using non‐parametric analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3262-3280, July.
    2. Dmitriy Izotov, 2017. "Urban Economic Growth in the Chinese Heterogeneity Space," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(3), pages 789-802.
    3. Bayari, Celal, 2018. "Economy and Market in China: The State, Wage Labour and the Construction of the ‘China Price’," MPRA Paper 100900, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Mar 2018.
    4. Junqian Xu & Yong Liu & Liling Yang, 2018. "A Comparative Study of the Role of China and India in Sustainable Textile Competition in the U.S. Market under Green Trade Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hukou; Agricultural trade; Barriers to labor movement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F17 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Forecasting and Simulation

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