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Health Consequences of Rural‐to‐Urban Migration: Evidence from Panel Data in China

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  • Yang Song
  • Wenkai Sun

Abstract

This paper provides new empirical evidence on the health consequences of rural‐to‐urban migration in China. We use a panel dataset from 2003 to 2006 constructed by the Research Center on the Rural Economy at the Ministry of Agriculture in China to investigate the effects of short‐term and medium‐term migration on health status. By combining propensity‐score matching and the difference‐in‐difference model, we attempt to overcome the migration endogeneity issue and estimate the average treatment effect on the treated. We find that the effect of short‐term migration on health in China is significantly positive mostly because of the income effect. However, the effect of longer‐term continuous migration on health is insignificant and close to zero. Our results are robust to several alternative estimation techniques and a series of robustness checks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Yang Song & Wenkai Sun, 2016. "Health Consequences of Rural‐to‐Urban Migration: Evidence from Panel Data in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(10), pages 1252-1267, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:25:y:2016:i:10:p:1252-1267
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3212
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    Cited by:

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    2. Fields, Gary & Song, Yang, 2020. "Modeling migration barriers in a two-sector framework: A welfare analysis of the hukou reform in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 293-301.
    3. Marta Bengoa & Christopher Rick, 2020. "Chinese Hukou Policy and Rural-to-Urban Migrants’ Health: Evidence from Matching Methods," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 224-259, April.
    4. Song, Yang & Yang, Jidong & Yang, Qijing, 2016. "Do firms' political connections depress the union wage effect? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 183-198.
    5. Su, Yaqin & Tesfazion, Petros & Zhao, Zhong, 2018. "Where are the migrants from? Inter- vs. intra-provincial rural-urban migration in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 142-155.
    6. Nolan, Anne & Layte, Richard, 2017. "The impact of transitions in insurance coverage on GP visiting among children in Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 94-100.
    7. Tien Thanh, Pham & Bao Duong, Pham, 2022. "The economic burden of non-communicable diseases on households and their coping mechanisms: Evidence from rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Yuanyuan Ma & Anne Nolan, 2017. "Public Healthcare Entitlements and Healthcare Utilisation among the Older Population in Ireland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(11), pages 1412-1428, November.
    9. Yaolin Liu & Enxiang Cai & Ying Jing & Jie Gong & Zhengyu Wang, 2018. "Analyzing the Decoupling between Rural-to-Urban Migrants and Urban Land Expansion in Hubei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Audrey Dorélien & Hongwei Xu, 2020. "Estimating rural–urban disparities in self-rated health in China: Impact of choice of urban definition," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(49), pages 1429-1460.
    11. Haiyang Lu & Ivan T. Kandilov & Peng Nie, 2022. "Heterogeneous Impact of Social Integration on the Health of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-14, August.
    12. Nan Sun & Fan Yang, 2024. "Effects and Mechanisms of Rural‒Urban Migration on Health in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-23, April.

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