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The impact of rural–urban migration on the health of the left-behind parents

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  • AO, Xiang
  • JIANG, Dawei
  • ZHAO, Zhong

Abstract

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has begun a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Along with an increasing number of rural people migrating to urban area for jobs, there are a considerable number of elderly parents left behind in the rural area. The impact of migration of the adult children on the health of their left-behind parents is ambiguous. On the one hand, the additional income from the children's jobs can allow their parents to afford better health care and nutrition; on the other hand, the migration necessarily reduces the amount of time the children have to take care of their parents. This paper uses the Rural Urban Migration in China data to empirically investigate the effect of adult children's migration on the health of the left-behind parents. Based on a linear probability model with instrumental variable correction, we find that having one additional adult child migrated to an urban area increases the probability of the left-behind elderly parents being in poor health condition by about 8%. Furthermore, parents having only one child, from low-income households, or aged above 60year are affected more. Our results point out that the parents with only one child is the most vulnerable group and highlight the importance of establishing a formal care system for the rural elderly to complement the traditional family care in rural China.

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  • AO, Xiang & JIANG, Dawei & ZHAO, Zhong, 2016. "The impact of rural–urban migration on the health of the left-behind parents," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 126-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:37:y:2016:i:c:p:126-139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2015.09.007
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    2. Connelly, Rachel & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2016. "Left behind, at-risk, and vulnerable elders in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 140-153.
    3. Tianxiang Li & Beibei Wu & Fujin Yi & Bin Wang & Tomas Baležentis, 2020. "What Happens to the Health of Elderly Parents When Adult Child Migration Splits Households? Evidence from Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Xiong, Xianfang & Deng, Lanfang & Li, Hongyi, 2020. "Is winning at the start important: Early childhood family cognitive stimulation and child development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    5. Su, Yaqin & Tesfazion, Petros & Zhao, Zhong, 2018. "Where are the migrants from? Inter- vs. intra-provincial rural-urban migration in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 142-155.
    6. Zheng, Xiaodong & Fang, Zuyi & Wang, Yajun & Fang, Xiangming, 2022. "When left-behind children become adults and parents: The long-term human capital consequences of parental absence in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Lanfang Deng & Haizheng Li & Zhiqiang Liu, 2023. "The impact of family co-residence and childcare on children’s cognitive skills," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(26), pages 3008-3025, June.
    8. Luo, Haotian & Hu, Qing, 2024. "A re-examination of the influence of human capital on urban-rural income gap in China: College enrollment expansion, digital economy and spatial spillover," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 494-519.
    9. Zhu, Ruini & Yuan, Ye & Wang, Yaojing, 2024. "Love, health, and robots: Automation, migration, and family responses in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Juliane Scheffel & Yiwei Zhang, 2019. "How does internal migration affect the emotional health of elderly parents left-behind?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 953-980, July.
    11. Xiaowei Dong & Siwen Qian, 2024. "Satisfying the multiple needs of older adults in rural China through the adaptation of dual polycentric systems," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. John Knight & Bianjing Ma & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2020. "The puzzle of falling happiness despite rising income in rural China: ten hypotheses," Economics Series Working Papers 899, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Yaolin Liu & Enxiang Cai & Ying Jing & Jie Gong & Zhengyu Wang, 2018. "Analyzing the Decoupling between Rural-to-Urban Migrants and Urban Land Expansion in Hubei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Left-behind parents; Health; Rural–urban migration; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

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