Migrant Labor Markets and the Welfare of Rural Households in the Developing World: Evidence from China

Alan de Brauw () and John Giles

No 6085, 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida from American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association)

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of rural households in China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households within villages. Household income per capita and non-durable consumption per capita both increase with out-migration, and increase more for poorer households. We also establish a causal relationship between increased out-migration and investment in housing and durable goods assets, and these effects are also stronger for poorer households. We do not find robust evidence, however, to support a connection between increased migration and investment in productive activity. Instead, increased migration is associated with two significant changes for poorer households: increases both in the total labor supplied to productive activities and in the land per capita managed by the household. In examining the effect of migration, we pay considerable attention to developing and examining our identification strategy.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Consumer/Household Economics; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-lab, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-tra
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)

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https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/6085/files/469734.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Migrant Labor Markets and the Welfare of Rural Households in the Developing World: Evidence from China (2018)
Working Paper: Migrant Labor Markets and the Welfare of Rural Households in the Developing World: Evidence from China (2012)
Working Paper: Migrant labor markets and the welfare of rural households in the developing world: evidence from China (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea08:6085

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.6085

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