Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China

No 2326, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate how reductions of barriers to migration affect the decision of middle school graduates to attend high school in rural China. Change in the cost of migration is identified using exogenous variation across counties in the timing of national identity card distribution, which made it easier for rural migrants to register as temporary residents in urban destinations. We show that timing of ID card distribution is unrelated to local rainfall shocks affecting demand for migration, and not related to proxies reflecting time-varying changes in village policy or administrative capacity. We find a robust negative relationship between migrant opportunity and high school enrollment. The mechanisms behind the negative relationship are suggested by observed increases in subsequent local and migrant non-agricultural employment of high school age young adults as the size of the current village migrant network increases.

Keywords: rural China; educational attainment; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J24 O12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2006-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab, nep-sea and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Published - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2017, 52 (1) 274-313

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https://docs.iza.org/dp2326.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China (2017)
Working Paper: Migrant opportunity and the educational attainment of youth in rural China (2008)
Working Paper: Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China (2005)
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