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Accounting for China's urbanization

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  • Chen, Qin
  • Song, Zheng

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that large-scale urbanization plays a pivotal role in China's miraculous economic growth over the past two decades. Yet many of the basic statistics and facts remain disputable. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, based on the publicly available 2000 and 2010 census data, plus some auxiliary information from other sources, we develop an accounting method to back out the scale and composition of China's urbanization. We find that urbanization accounts for 80.4% of the total urban population growth of 211 million in the 2000s. Moreover, more than half of the urbanized population, about 85.6 million, is due to rural–urban migration. Our findings suggest that rural–urban migration increased by two thirds from the 1990s to 2000s, while the population urbanized by land reclassification is roughly the same across the two periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Qin & Song, Zheng, 2014. "Accounting for China's urbanization," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 485-494.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:30:y:2014:i:c:p:485-494
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.07.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wang, Xiaobing & Huang, Jikun & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2011. "The rise of migration and the fall of self employment in rural China's labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 573-584.
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    4. Knight, John & Deng, Quheng & Li, Shi, 2011. "The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 585-600.
    5. Fang Cai & Meiyan Wang, 2008. "A Counterfactual Analysis on Unlimited Surplus Labor in Rural China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 16(1), pages 51-65, January.
    6. Hongbin Li & Lei Li & Binzhen Wu & Yanyan Xiong, 2012. "The End of Cheap Chinese Labor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 57-74, Fall.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jipeng Zhang & Jianyong Fan & Jiawei Mo, 2017. "Government Intervention, Land Market, And Urban Development: Evidence From Chinese Cities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(1), pages 115-136, January.
    2. He, Ming & Chen, Yang & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2021. "The effects of urban transformation on productivity spillovers in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 473-488.
    3. Wang, Xin & Li, Zhengwei & Meng, Haixing & Wu, Jiang, 2017. "Identification of key energy efficiency drivers through global city benchmarking: A data driven approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 18-28.
    4. Wang, Ting & Chanda, Areendam, 2018. "Manufacturing growth and local employment multipliers in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 515-543.
    5. R. & Junsen Zhang, 2019. "Housing Prices, Inter-generational Co-residence, and “Excess†Savings by the Young: Evidence using Chinese Data," Working Papers 2019-059, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    6. Meng, Lei, 2020. "Permanent migration desire of Chinese rural residents: Evidence from field surveys, 2006–2015," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Census; China's urbanization; Population dynamics; Rural–urban migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

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