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Great Expectations? The Subjective Well-being of Rural-Urban Migrants in China

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Author Info

  • Knight, John
  • Gunatilaka, Ramani

Abstract

Summary This paper is among the first to link the literatures on migration and on subjective well-being in developing countries. It poses the question: why do rural-urban migrant households settled in urban China have an average happiness score lower than rural households? Three basic hypotheses are examined: migrants had false expectations about their future urban conditions, or about their future urban aspirations, or about their future selves. Estimated happiness functions and decomposition analyses, based on a 2002 national household survey, indicate that certain features of migrant conditions make for unhappiness, and that their high aspirations in relation to achievement, influenced by their new reference groups, also make for unhappiness. Although the possibility of selection bias among migrants cannot be ruled out, it is apparently difficult for migrants to form unbiased expectations about life in a new and different world.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal World Development.

Volume (Year): 38 (2010)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 113-124

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Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:1:p:113-124

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev

Related research

Keywords: aspirations China happiness relative deprivation rural-urban migration subjective well-being;

References

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  1. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi & Knight, John, 2007. "Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 69-90, September.
  2. Fafchamps, Marcel & Shilpi, Forhad, 2006. "Subjective Welfare, Isolation and Relative Consumption," CEPR Discussion Papers 6002, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  3. Easterlin, Richard A, 2001. "Income and Happiness: Towards an Unified Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(473), pages 465-84, July.
  4. Rachel Sabates-Wheeler & Ricardo Sabates & Adriana Castaldo, 2008. "Tackling Poverty-migration Linkages: Evidence from Ghana and Egypt," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 307-328, June.
  5. 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 767-82, July.
  6. Stutzer, Alois & Frey, Bruno S., 2004. "Stress That Doesn't Pay: The Commuting Paradox," IZA Discussion Papers 1278, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  7. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2002. "How important is Methodology for the Estimates of the Determinants of Happiness?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-024/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  8. C. Graham & S. Pettinato, 2002. "Frustrated Achievers: Winners, Losers and Subjective Well-Being in New Market Economies," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 100-140.
  9. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-78, September.
  10. Matthew Rabin, 1998. "Psychology and Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 11-46, March.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Shiqing Jiang & Ming Lu & Hiroshi Sato, 2010. "Identity, Inequality, and Happiness: Evidence from Urban China," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd09-131, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
  2. Sabatini, Fabio, 2011. "Can a click buy a little happiness? The impact of business-to-consumer e-commerce on subjective well-being," MPRA Paper 32393, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  3. John Knight & Deng Quheng and Li Shi, 2010. "The Puzzle of Migrant Labour Shortage and Rural Labour Surplus in China," Economics Series Working Papers 494, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  4. Easterlin, Richard A. & Angelescu, Laura & Zweig, Jacqueline S., 2011. "The Impact of Modern Economic Growth on Urban–Rural Differences in Subjective Well-Being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2187-2198.
  5. Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Qingguo Zhai, 2010. "Subjective Well-Being of China’s Off-Farm Migrants," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 315-333, June.
  6. Russell Smyth & Qingguo Zhai & Xiaoxu Li, 2008. "Determinants Of Turnover Intentions Among Chinese Off Farm Migrants," Monash Economics Working Papers 03/08, Monash University, Department of Economics.
  7. John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2009. "Is Happiness Infectious?," Economics Series Working Papers 446, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  8. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Will GDP growth increase happiness in developing countries?," Working Papers halshs-00564985, HAL.
  9. Shiqing Jiang & Ming Lu & Hiroshi Sato, 2009. "Happiness in the Dual Society of Urban China: Hukou Identity, Horizontal Inequality and Heterogeneous," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd08-020, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.

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