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Educational choice, rural–urban migration and economic development

Author

Listed:
  • Pei-Ju Liao

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Ping Wang

    (Washington University in St. Louis & Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and NBER)

  • Yin-Chi Wang

    (National Taipei University)

  • Chong K. Yip

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

We develop an overlapping-generations framework of education-based migration that takes place prior to labor-market participation and explore its role for economic development, urbanization and workforce composition. We show that education-based and work-based migration are substitutes and the equilibrium outcome depends crucially on children’s talent distribution, college costs and selectiveness, urban job opportunities, and migration barriers. We establish conflicting partial- and general-equilibrium effects at work for comparative statics, and examine their locational as well as macroeconomic implications for assessing education and migration policies. Applying our model to fit the data from China over 1980–2007, we find that, although education-based migration only amounts to one-fifth of that of work-based migration, it contributes more to per capita output growth than work-based migration owing to its high-skilled nature. Moreover, the abolishment of education-based migration policy and the relaxation of the work-based migration are found to have limited effects on per capita output and urbanization.

Suggested Citation

  • Pei-Ju Liao & Ping Wang & Yin-Chi Wang & Chong K. Yip, 2022. "Educational choice, rural–urban migration and economic development," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(1), pages 1-67, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:74:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-021-01369-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-021-01369-2
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bairoliya, Neha & Miller, Ray, 2021. "Social insurance, demographics, and rural-urban migration in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Kang, Lili & Peng, Fei & Zhu, Yu, 2018. "Returns to higher education subjects and tiers in China - Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," GLO Discussion Paper Series 238, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Pei-Ju Liao & Ping Wang & Yin-Chi Wang & Chong K. Yip, 2020. "Fertility and Internal Migration," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 102(4), pages 429-445, October.
    5. Garriga, Carlos & Hedlund, Aaron & Tang, Yang & Wang, Ping, 2021. "Rural-urban migration and house prices in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Yongheng Deng & Jing Wu & Yang Tang & ping wang, 2019. "Spatial Misallocation in Chinese Housing and Land Markets," 2019 Meeting Papers 1351, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Ding, Xiaozhou, 2021. "College education and internal migration in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Monteforte, Fabio, 2020. "Structural change, the push-pull hypothesis and the Spanish labour market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 148-169.
    9. William R. Emmons & Jacob Haas & Christopher J. Neely, 2020. "Responses of International Central Banks to the COVID-19 Crisis," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 102(4), pages 338-384, October.
    10. Yao, Yao, 2019. "Does higher education expansion enhance productivity?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 169-194.
    11. Shihui Ma, 2021. "Diverging College Premiums: A General Equilibrium Framework on China's College Expansion Policy," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(2), pages 289-315, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Educational choice; Rural–urban migration; Urbanization; Skill composition; Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

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