IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v39y2002i12p2219-2235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Determinants of Temporary Rural-to-Urban Migration in China

Author

Listed:
  • Haizheng Li

    (School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0615, USA, Haizheng.li@econ.gatech.edu)

  • Steven Zahniser

    (Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 1800 MStreetNW, RmN5134, Washington, DC20036-5831, USA, zahniser@ers.usda.gov)

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of various explanatory factors on temporary rural-to-urban migration in China using a series of probit models of the migration decision. The empirical basis of this work is a sample of 11 924 individuals, age 16-35 years, drawn from the 1995 data of the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP). We find that the profiles for migration-age and migration-education are both quadratic, with the least-educated and most-educated members of rural society being less likely to migrate. In addition, the marginal effect of education tends to be higher for men than for women. An increase in farming income reduces the probability of migration, while the amount of land controlled by a household does not have a significant effect on migration in most provinces.

Suggested Citation

  • Haizheng Li & Steven Zahniser, 2002. "The Determinants of Temporary Rural-to-Urban Migration in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(12), pages 2219-2235, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:12:p:2219-2235
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098022000033836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098022000033836
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098022000033836?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhao, Yaohui, 1999. "Labor Migration and Earnings Differences: The Case of Rural China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 767-782, July.
    2. Zhang, Xiaobo & Li, Guo, 2003. "Does guanxi matter to nonfarm employment?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 315-331, June.
    3. Taylor, J. Edward & Martin, Philip L., 2001. "Human capital: Migration and rural population change," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 457-511, Elsevier.
    4. J. Edward Taylor & Scott Rozelle & Alan deBrauw, 1999. "Migration, Remittances, and Agricultural Productivity in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 287-291, May.
    5. Xiushi Yang, 2000. "Determinants of Migration Intentions in Hubei Province, China: Individual versus Family Migration," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(5), pages 769-787, May.
    6. Oded Stark, 1991. "The Migration of Labor," Blackwell Books, Wiley Blackwell, number 1557860300, April.
    7. Paul S. Davies & Michael J. Greenwood & Haizheng Li, 2001. "A Conditional Logit Approach to U.S. State‐to‐State Migration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 337-360, May.
    8. McFadden, Daniel, 1974. "The measurement of urban travel demand," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 303-328, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Driouchi, Ahmed & Zouag, Nada, 2010. "Internal Mobility and Likelihood of Skill Losses in Localities of Emigration: Theory and Preliminary Empirical Application to Some Developing Economies," MPRA Paper 21799, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Apr 2010.
    2. SHI, Xiaoping & Heerink, Nico & Qu, Futian, 2007. "Choices between different off-farm employment sub-categories: An empirical analysis for Jiangxi Province, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 438-455.
    3. Sylvie Démurger & Li Shi, 2012. "Migration, Remittances and Rural Employment Patterns : Evidence from China," Working Papers 1230, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    4. Görlich, Dennis & Trebesch, Christoph, 2006. "Mass migration and seasonality: evidence on Moldova's labour exodus," Kiel Advanced Studies Working Papers 435, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. de Brauw, Alan & Rozelle, Scott, 2008. "Migration and household investment in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 320-335, June.
    6. repec:got:cegedp:56 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Alan de Brauw & Tomoko Harigaya, 2007. "Seasonal Migration and Improving Living Standards in Vietnam," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 430-447.
    8. Richter, Susan M., 2008. "The Insurance Role of Remittances on Household Credit Demand," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6261, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Sylvie Démurger & Shi Li, 2013. "Migration, Remittances, and Rural Employment Patterns: Evidence from China," Research in Labor Economics, in: Labor Market Issues in China, pages 31-63, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-00744438 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Patrick S. Ward & Gerald E. Shively, 2015. "Migration and Land Rental as Responses to Income Shocks in Rural China," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 511-543, October.
    12. de Brauw, Alan & Mueller, Valerie & Lee, Hak Lim, 2014. "The Role of Rural–Urban Migration in the Structural Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 33-42.
    13. Zhao, Sudan & Jiang, Yongmu, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency: Empirical evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    14. Dean Yang, 2008. "International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 591-630, April.
    15. Roberts, Kenneth D., 2001. "The determinants of job choice by rural labor migrants in Shanghai," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 15-39.
    16. Vendryes, Thomas, 2011. "Migration constraints and development: Hukou and capital accumulation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 669-692.
    17. Ubaid Ali & Mazhar Mughal & Lionel de Boisdeffre, 2023. "Migrant remittances, agriculture investment and cropping patterns," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 899-920, September.
    18. Yang Cheng & Yuxia Lv & Mark Rosenberg & Linke Hou, 2018. "Decision Making of Non-Agricultural Work by Rural Residents in Weifang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    19. Démurger, Sylvie & Xu, Hui, 2011. "Return Migrants: The Rise of New Entrepreneurs in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1847-1861.
    20. Bosker, Maarten & Deichmann, Uwe & Roberts, Mark, 2018. "Hukou and highways the impact of China's spatial development policies on urbanization and regional inequality," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 91-109.
    21. Lall, Somik V. & Selod, Harris & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2006. "Rural-urban migration in developing countries : a survey of theoretical predictions and empirical findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3915, The World Bank.
    22. I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2010. "Remittances and inequality: a dynamic migration model," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 197-220, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:12:p:2219-2235. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.