IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i17p13093-d1229373.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban Environment Quality and Migrant Settlement Intentions: Evidence from China’s Hygienic Cities Initiative

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Sun

    (School of Economics, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan 411104, China)

  • Guochang Zhao

    (Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

The number of internal migrants in China reached 376 million in 2020, accounting for about one-fourth of the total population. Therefore, promoting their settlement in cities and integration into urban life is crucial for both sustainability and for their well-being. Drawing on data from the 2014–2018 China Migrants Dynamic Survey and taking the “Hygienic Cities Initiative” as a quasi-experiment, this research study analyzes the influence of improving the urban environment quality on migrants’ settlement intentions within a difference-in-difference (DID) framework. The study findings indicate that the creation of “Hygienic Cities” demonstrates a significant positive effect on migrants’ settlement intentions, thereby leading to a 4.57% increase. Further analysis highlights that the creation of “Hygienic Cities” primarily affects migrants’ settlement intentions by (1) improving local air quality and (2) increasing the sanitation of the urban environment. In addition to this, the effect of “Hygienic Cities” on migrants’ settlement intentions is stronger for migrants with higher education and income levels, shorter migration experience, unmarried males, and employers or self-employed individuals. This research article confirms that the urban residential environment has become a critical factor influencing Chinese migrants’ settlement intentions. As a result, further attention to environmental protection and improvements in urban environmental sanitation is crucial in city management for attracting talent and investments to cities, but such initiatives may also lead to potential gender imbalance in cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Sun & Guochang Zhao, 2023. "Urban Environment Quality and Migrant Settlement Intentions: Evidence from China’s Hygienic Cities Initiative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13093-:d:1229373
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13093/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13093/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    2. Xin Meng & Chikako Yamauchi, 2017. "Children of Migrants: The Cumulative Impact of Parental Migration on Children’s Education and Health Outcomes in China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1677-1714, October.
    3. Yuying Yang & Duanyang Gao & Rui Li & Hui Du, 2023. "The Impact of Basic Public Health Services on Migrant Peasant Workers’ Urban Integration: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Liqiu Zhao & Shouying Liu & Wei Zhang, 2018. "New Trends in Internal Migration in China: Profiles of the New†generation Migrants," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(1), pages 18-41, January.
    5. Wang, Yan & Conesa, Juan Carlos, 2022. "The role of demographics and migration for the future of economic growth in China," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    7. 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.
    8. Jie Chen & Wei Wang & Yan Song, 2023. "Economic Potential Gain, Income Uncertainty, and Rural Migrants’ Urban Homeownership: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    9. Guoqing Shi & Qiulong LYU & Ziheng Shangguan & Tianhe Jiang, 2019. "Facing Climate Change: What Drives Internal Migration Decisions in the Karst Rocky Regions of Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    10. 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.
    11. Cheng, Zhiming, 2021. "Education and consumption: Evidence from migrants in Chinese cities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 206-215.
    12. 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.
    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. Jun Li & Honghong Wei & Zhengdong Zuo, 2024. "Early Urban Migration and Long-Term Settlement Intention: Evidence from Migrants in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-16, November.

    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. Berry, Kevin & James, Alexander & Smith, Brock & Watson, Brett, 2022. "Geography, Geology, and Regional Economic Development," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    2. Marco Di Cataldo & Giulia Romani, 2023. "Rational cuts? The local impact of closing undersized schools," Working Papers 2023:03, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    3. Di Cataldo, Marco & Romani, Giulia, 2024. "Rational cuts? The local impact of closing undersized schools," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126034, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Di Cataldo, Marco & Romani, Giulia, 2023. "The local impact of closing undersized schools," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119359, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Coury, Michael & Falconer, Liam & La Nauze, Andrea, 2024. "Wildfire smoke and private provision of public air-quality monitoring," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Nishitateno, Shuhei & Burke, Paul J., 2021. "Willingness to pay for clean air: Evidence from diesel vehicle registration restrictions in Japan," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Saltz, Ira S. & Capener, Don, 2016. "60 Years Later and Still Going Strong: The Continued Relevance of the Tiebout Hypothesis," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 46(1).
    8. Nicolai V. Kuminoff, 2018. "Can Understanding Spatial Equilibria Enhance Benefit Transfers for Environmental Policy Evaluation?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(3), pages 591-608, March.
    9. Anke Gerber & Andreas Nicklisch & Stefan Voigt, 2013. "Strategic Choices for Redistribution and the Veil of Ignorance: Theory and Experimental Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 4423, CESifo.
    10. Nicolai V. Kuminoff & Jaren C. Pope, 2014. "Do “Capitalization Effects” For Public Goods Reveal The Public'S Willingness To Pay?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1227-1250, November.
    11. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Christian A. L. Hilber, 2017. "The Economic Implications of House Price Capitalization: A Synthesis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 301-339, April.
    13. Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Zigan Wang, 2018. "Pollution and Human Capital Migration: Evidence from Corporate Executives," NBER Working Papers 24389, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Samira Bakhshi & Mohammad Shakeri & M. Rose Olfert & Mark D. Partridge & Simon Weseen, 2009. "Do Local Residents Value Federal Transfers?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(3), pages 235-268, May.
    15. Nicolas Jannin & Aurélie Sotura, 2019. "This Town Ain't Big Enough? Quantifying Local Public Goods Spillovers," Working Papers halshs-02160251, HAL.
    16. Jeremy G. Moulton & Nicholas J. Sanders & Scott A. Wentland, 2024. "Toxic Assets: How the Housing Market Responds to Environmental Information Shocks," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 100(1), pages 66-88.
    17. Löffler, Max & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2015. "Property Taxation, Local Labor Markets and Rental Housing," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112967, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. V. Kerry Smith & Ben Whitmore, 2019. "Amenities, Risk, and Flood Insurance Reform," NBER Working Papers 25580, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Philippe Jehiel & Laurent Lamy, 2018. "A Mechanism Design Approach to the Tiebout Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 735-760.
    20. Grodecka, Anna & Hull, Isaiah, 2019. "The Impact of Local Taxes and Public Services on Property Values," Working Paper Series 374, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13093-:d:1229373. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.