Relaxing Migration Constraints for Rural Households / Cynthia Kinnan, Shing-Yi Wang, Yongxiang Wang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kinnan, Cynthia.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Wang, Shing-Yi.

Wang, Yongxiang.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w21314.

NBER working paper series no. w21314

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

This paper exploits two unique features of China's history to study the effects of access to internal migration: reforms to the household registration (hukou) system, and historical migration flows. We show that temporary migration due to a government policy called the "sent-down youth" (SDY) program created lasting inter-province links, so that decades later, hukou reforms in cities which sent SDY increased migration in provinces where those SDY temporarily resided. Using this variation, we find that improved access to migration leads to higher consumption levels and lower consumption volatility for rural households. Furthermore, household production shifts into high-risk, high-return activities.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2015.