IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v177y2020ics0921800919308663.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stay or Leave? The Role of Air Pollution in Urban Migration Choices

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Ziming
  • Yu, Lu

Abstract

Air pollution is a pervasive issue in many cities in the developing world. Yet, the linkage between air pollution and decisions concerning internal migration remains rarely explored. In this paper, we match data from China, based on an annual city-level statistical yearbook, historical air pollution indicators and a nationwide survey of temporary labor migrants in 2016 in order to analyze the effects of air pollution on migrants' interest in settling down in the cities they have moved to for work. Our results show that there is a significant and negative effect of air pollution on migrants' interest in settling down. Specifically, this negative effect of air pollution is greater for old, less-educated, within-city migrants and rural migrants - who comprise a large proportion of the Chinese urban labor force. We conclude that air pollution undermines investment in human capital and may become an obstacle for sustainable development of cities; thus, we underline the potential benefits of more stringent environmental regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Ziming & Yu, Lu, 2020. "Stay or Leave? The Role of Air Pollution in Urban Migration Choices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:177:y:2020:i:c:s0921800919308663
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106780
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919308663
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106780?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanna, Rema & Oliva, Paulina, 2015. "The effect of pollution on labor supply: Evidence from a natural experiment in Mexico City," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 68-79.
    2. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    3. Luechinger, Simon, 2010. "Life satisfaction and transboundary air pollution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 4-6, April.
    4. Yu Qin & Hongjia Zhu, 2018. "Run away? Air pollution and emigration interests in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 235-266, January.
    5. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    6. Liu, Ziming & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi & Hanisch, Markus, 2017. "Can land transfer through land cooperatives foster off-farm employment in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 35-44.
    7. Armenak Antinyan & Luca Corazzini, 2018. "Relative standing and temporary migration: Empirical evidence from the South Caucasus," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 361-383, February.
    8. Charlotte Goodburn, 2014. "Rural–Urban Migration and Gender Disparities in Child Healthcare in China and India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(4), pages 631-655, July.
    9. Daniel L. Millimet & Jayjit Roy, 2016. "Empirical Tests of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis When Environmental Regulation is Endogenous," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 652-677, June.
    10. Zhang, Junjie & Mu, Quan, 2018. "Air pollution and defensive expenditures: Evidence from particulate-filtering facemasks," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 517-536.
    11. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2017. "Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 2958-2989, October.
    12. Zhu, Nong, 2002. "The impacts of income gaps on migration decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 213-230.
    13. Iosifidi, Maria, 2016. "Environmental awareness, consumption, and labor supply: Empirical evidence from household survey data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1-11.
    14. Grace, Kathryn & Hertrich, Véronique & Singare, Djeneba & Husak, Greg, 2018. "Examining rural Sahelian out-migration in the context of climate change: An analysis of the linkages between rainfall and out-migration in two Malian villages from 1981 to 2009," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 187-196.
    15. Li, Zhengtao & Folmer, Henk & Xue, Jianhong, 2014. "To what extent does air pollution affect happiness? The case of the Jinchuan mining area, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 88-99.
    16. Ziming Liu & Lan Zhang & Jens Rommel & Shuyi Feng, 2020. "Do land markets improve land-use efficiency? evidence from Jiangsu, China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(3), pages 317-330, January.
    17. Z Ma, 1999. "Temporary Migration and Regional Development in China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(5), pages 783-802, May.
    18. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1979. "A Simple Test for Heteroscedasticity and Random Coefficient Variation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1287-1294, September.
    19. Graff Zivin, Joshua & Neidell, Matthew, 2009. "Days of haze: Environmental information disclosure and intertemporal avoidance behavior," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 119-128, September.
    20. Bayer, Patrick & Keohane, Nathaniel & Timmins, Christopher, 2009. "Migration and hedonic valuation: The case of air quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-14, July.
    21. Imelda, 2018. "Indoor Air Pollution and Infant Mortality: A New Approach," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 416-421, May.
    22. Yaohui Zhao, 1999. "Leaving the Countryside: Rural-to-Urban Migration Decisions in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 281-286, May.
    23. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2012. "The Impact of Pollution on Worker Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3652-3673, December.
    24. C. Cindy Fan, 2003. "Rural‐urban migration and gender division of labor in transitional China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 24-47, March.
    25. Liu, Ziming & Li, Jia & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi, 2020. "Health impacts of cooking fuel choice in rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    26. Ng’ang’a, Stanley Karanja & Bulte, Erwin H. & Giller, Ken E. & McIntire, John M. & Rufino, Mariana C., 2016. "Migration and Self-Protection Against Climate Change: A Case Study of Samburu County, Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 55-68.
    27. Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Nielsen, Ingrid & Smyth, Russell, 2017. "Effect of internal migration on the environment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 31-44.
    28. Elizabeth Frankenberg & Douglas McKee & Duncan Thomas, 2005. "Health consequences of forest fires in Indonesia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(1), pages 109-129, February.
    29. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Shimshack, Jay P., 2014. "Air pollution and children's respiratory health: A cohort analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 39-57.
    30. Liao, Hua & Tang, Xin & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Solid fuel use in rural China and its health effects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 900-908.
    31. Ng’ang’a, Stanley Karanja & Bulte, Erwin & Giller, Ken E. & McIntire, John M. & Rufino, Mariana C., 2016. "Migration and self-protection against climate change: a case study of Samburu district, Kenya," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246271, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    32. J. Lelieveld & J. S. Evans & M. Fnais & D. Giannadaki & A. Pozzer, 2015. "The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7569), pages 367-371, September.
    33. Menz, Tobias & Welsch, Heinz, 2010. "Population aging and environmental preferences in OECD countries: The case of air pollution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 2582-2589, October.
    34. Douglas Almond & Yuyu Chen & Michael Greenstone & Hongbin Li, 2009. "Winter Heating or Clean Air? Unintended Impacts of China's Huai River Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 184-190, May.
    35. Rivers, Douglas & Vuong, Quang H., 1988. "Limited information estimators and exogeneity tests for simultaneous probit models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 347-366, November.
    36. H. Spencer Banzhaf & Randall P. Walsh, 2008. "Do People Vote with Their Feet? An Empirical Test of Tiebout," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 843-863, June.
    37. Welsch, Heinz, 2006. "Environment and happiness: Valuation of air pollution using life satisfaction data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 801-813, July.
    38. Koubi, Vally & Spilker, Gabriele & Schaffer, Lena & Bernauer, Thomas, 2016. "Environmental Stressors and Migration: Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 197-210.
    39. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "Estimating returns to schooling in urban China using conventional and heteroskedasticity-based instruments," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 166-173.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He Liu & Xueming Li & Yingying Guan & Songbo Li & He Sun, 2023. "Comprehensive Evaluation and Analysis of Human Settlements’ Suitability in the Yangtze River Delta Based on Multi-Source Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Huaxin Wang-Lu & Octasiano Miguel Valerio Mendoza, 2022. "Job Prospects and Labour Mobility in China," Papers 2207.08282, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2022.
    3. Wu, Xianhua & Deng, Huai & Huang, Yuxiang & Guo, Ji, 2022. "Air pollution, migration costs, and urban residents’ welfare: A spatial general equilibrium analysis from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 396-409.
    4. Zhenshan Yang, 2023. "Human capital space: a spatial perspective of the dynamics of people and economic relationships," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Tongshan Liu & Guoying Han & Wan Nie, 2022. "Optimal Residence: Does Air Quality Affect Settlement Decisions of Urban Floating Migrants?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.
    6. Chuanwang Zhang & Guangsheng Zhang, 2024. "How Does Air Pollution Impact Residence Intention of Rural Migrants? Empirical Evidence from the CMDS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Ecaterina TOMOIAGA, 2023. "Do People Migrate Due To Climate Change? A Comparative Analysis For Romania And Poland," Oradea Journal of Business and Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 82-91, September.
    8. Xuan Yang & Yue Wang & Di Chen & Xue Tan & Xue Tian & Lei Shi, 2021. "Does the “Blue Sky Defense War Policy” Paint the Sky Blue?—A Case Study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-25, November.
    9. Yidong Wu & Yuanyuan Zha & Mengyuan Ge & Hao Sun & Honghong Gui, 2022. "The Impact of Urban Health Care on Migrants’ Settlement Intention: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    10. Luojia Wang & Kerui Du & Bin Fang & Rob Law, 2023. "Escape from air pollution: How does air quality in the place of residence shape tourism consumption?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 1074-1099, June.
    11. Xueming Li & Songbo Li & Shenzhen Tian & Yingying Guan & He Liu, 2021. "Air Quality and the Spatial-Temporal Differentiation of Mechanisms Underlying Chinese Urban Human Settlements," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, November.
    12. Yi Zhang & Tao Shi & Ai-Jun Wang & Qi Huang, 2022. "Air Pollution, Health Shocks and Labor Mobility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-21, January.
    13. Shao, Shuai & Li, Baoli & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili, 2021. "How does labor transfer affect environmental pollution in rural China? Evidence from a survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    14. Komeda, Kenji, 2021. "Environmental Factors and Internal Migration in India," Warwick-Monash Economics Student Papers 20, Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers.
    15. Yao, Peng & Wang, Yutong & Liu, Jianxu, 2023. "Can water pollution control influence employment adjustment in enterprises?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 384-397.
    16. Yongliang Yang & Jing Fang & Wen Wang & Yan Li & Yi Li, 2021. "The Impact of Air Quality on Effective Labor Supply: Based on the Survey Data of Zhejiang Province in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, April.
    17. Xinxian Wang & Jun He & Tim Futing Liao & Gaoxiang Gu, 2023. "Does Air Pollution Influence the Settlement Intention of the Floating Population in China? Individual Heterogeneity and City Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Wang, Mingyue & Sun, Tianshi, 2023. "Leave for where? The impact of air quality on migration: Evidence at the city-pair level in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    19. Chao Xu & Xiulei Wang, 2022. "Air Pollution and Migration Intention: Evidence from the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-19, July.
    20. Chen, Fanglin & Zhang, Xin & Chen, Zhongfei, 2023. "Behind climate change: Extreme heat and health cost," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 101-110.
    21. Lai, Wangyang & Song, Hong & Wang, Chang & Wang, Huanhuan, 2021. "Air pollution and brain drain: Evidence from college graduates in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    22. Wang, Zhaohua & Ma, Junhua & Zhang, Bin & Yang, Yuantao & Wang, Bo & Zhao, Wenhui, 2023. "Does high speed railway alleviate housing vacancy rates? Evidence from smart meter data of household electricity consumption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    23. Quan-Hoang Vuong & Tam-Tri Le & Quy Van Khuc & Quang-Loc Nguyen & Minh-Hoang Nguyen, 2022. "Escaping from Air Pollution: Exploring the Psychological Mechanism behind the Emergence of Internal Migration Intention among Urban Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-22, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feiwei Shen & Qiang Wang & Jing Zou & Huili Yan & Baitao Wang, 2023. "Air Pollution and Migration Decision of Migrants in Low-Carbon Society," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Liu, Ziming & Li, Jia & Rommel, Jens & Feng, Shuyi, 2020. "Health impacts of cooking fuel choice in rural China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Cong Sun & Siqi Zheng & Jianghao Wang & Matthew E. Kahn, 2019. "Does clean air increase the demand for the consumer city? Evidence from Beijing," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 409-434, June.
    5. Siqi Zheng & Xiaonan Zhang & Weizeng Sun & Chengtao Lin, 2019. "Air pollution and elite college graduates’ job location choice: evidence from China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(2), pages 295-316, October.
    6. He, Xiaobo & Luo, Zijun & Zhang, Junjie, 2022. "The impact of air pollution on movie theater admissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    7. Gao, Yanyan & Zhang, Lin & Nan, Yongqing, 2023. "Travel to breathe the fresh air? Big data evidence on the short-term migration effect of air pollution from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Liu, Zhaoyang & Hanley, Nick & Campbell, Danny, 2020. "Linking urban air pollution with residents’ willingness to pay for greenspace: A choice experiment study in Beijing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    9. Yao, Yao & Li, Xue & Smyth, Russell & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Air pollution and political trust in local government: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Xin Zhang & Xun Zhang & Yuehua Liu & Xintong Zhao & Xi Chen, 2023. "The morbidity costs of air pollution through the Lens of Health Spending in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1269-1292, July.
    11. Lai, Wangyang & Song, Hong & Wang, Chang & Wang, Huanhuan, 2021. "Air pollution and brain drain: Evidence from college graduates in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Guo, Liwen & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Cook, Sarah, 2024. "Air pollution and education investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    13. Wang, Mingyue & Sun, Tianshi, 2023. "Leave for where? The impact of air quality on migration: Evidence at the city-pair level in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Yuan, Liang & Shin, Kongjoo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Environmental Quality: The Impact of Air Pollution and Green Coverage in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 124-138.
    15. Tao Lin & Wenhao Qian & Hongwei Wang & Yu Feng, 2022. "Air Pollution and Workplace Choice: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-23, July.
    16. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Valuing Air Quality Using Happiness Data: The Case of China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 29-36.
    17. Han, Ahram & Ten, Gi Khan & Wang, Shun, 2023. "Gray skies and blue moms: The effect of air pollution on parental life satisfaction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    18. Xie, Tingting & Yuan, Ye & Zhang, Hui, 2023. "Information, awareness, and mental health: Evidence from air pollution disclosure in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    19. Xiangnan Feng & Shuang Ma & Lingling Wen & Yan Zhao, 2021. "Immediate effect of air pollution on labor mobility: empirical evidence from online résumé data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(2), pages 483-512, October.
    20. Chen, Shiyi & Jiang, Lingduo & Liu, Wanlin & Song, Hong, 2022. "Fireworks regulation, air pollution, and public health: Evidence from China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:177:y:2020:i:c:s0921800919308663. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.