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The Influence of Political Capital on Peasants’ Migration Behavior and Its Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Haojing Shen

    (Department of Public Policy and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Yan Song

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Changchun Feng

    (College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China)

  • Zhengying Shan

    (College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China)

Abstract

This study examined the influence of political capital on the migration behavior of peasant households in China’s equitable urbanization. While existing research has proven that political capital can increase the wages of migrant workers, leading to a higher possibility of their rural-to-urban migration, the direct impact of political capital on migration behavior has not received sufficient attention. As China is one of the largest emerging economies, the impact of political capital on the economy and political transformation is typical. This paper reports a survey of 1120 farmer households from Xinxiang, a traditional agricultural area in central China. Using a binary logit model to test whether peasant households will migrate and a multinomial logit model to test where they will migrate to, this study examined whether political capital had a significant influence on the migration behavior of peasant households. The results suggest that the peasant households with political capital have a higher possibility of moving to urban areas, even though there is a better habitational option, namely, a new village in the local rural area. This suggests that reducing the difference in the political capital of migrants through policy propaganda and other methods is an efficient and effective way to achieve and improve equitable access to urbanization.

Suggested Citation

  • Haojing Shen & Yan Song & Changchun Feng & Zhengying Shan, 2021. "The Influence of Political Capital on Peasants’ Migration Behavior and Its Implications," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:12:p:1363-:d:699484
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    References listed on IDEAS

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