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China's mobility barriers and employment allocations

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  • Ngai, Liwa Rachel
  • Pissarides, Christopher
  • Wang, Jin

Abstract

China’s hukou system imposes two main barriers to population movements. Agricultural workers get land to cultivate but run the risk of losing it if they migrate. Social transfers (education, health, etc.) are conditional on holding a local hukou. We show that the land policy is a more important barrier on industrialization. This distortion can be corrected by giving property rights to farmers. Social transfers dampen mainly urbanization. We calculate that the two policies together lead to overemployment in agriculture of 6.7 points, under-employment in the urban sector of 6.3 points and have practically no impact on the rural non-agricultural sector.

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  • Ngai, Liwa Rachel & Pissarides, Christopher & Wang, Jin, 2016. "China's mobility barriers and employment allocations," CEPR Discussion Papers 11657, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11657
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    Cited by:

    1. Tasso Adamopoulos & Loren Brandt & Jessica Leight & Diego Restuccia, 2022. "Misallocation, Selection, and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis With Panel Data From China," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(3), pages 1261-1282, May.
    2. Ayerst, Stephen & Brandt, Loren & Restuccia, Diego, 2020. "Market constraints, misallocation, and productivity in Vietnam agriculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    3. Mark Colas & Suqin Ge, 2019. "Transformations in China’s Internal Labor Migration and Hukou System," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 296-331, September.
    4. Panle Jia Barwick & Yanyan Liu & Eleonora Patacchini & Qi Wu, 2019. "Information, Mobile Communication, and Referral Effects," NBER Working Papers 25873, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Bairoliya, Neha & Miller, Ray, 2021. "Social insurance, demographics, and rural-urban migration in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Cui, Kun & Li, Bo & Wang, Hanyang, 2021. "Quantitative analysis of health insurance reform in China: Pure consolidation or universal health insurance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Shawn Xiaoguang Chen & Yudan Cheng & Liutang Gong & Wenjia Tian, 2023. "A Big Push of Panda from the Ground: Land Subsidy and Structural Transformation in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 23-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    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. Waxman, Andrew & Liang, Yuanning & Li, Shanjun & Barwick, Panle Jia & Zhao, Meng, 2020. "Tightening belts to buy a home: Consumption responses to rising housing prices in urban China," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Chuantao Cui & Leona Shao‐Zhi Li & Daoju Peng, 2021. "Value‐added exports and the skill premium: Evidence from China’s international and regional production networks," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 183-211, May.
    11. Ye, Maoxin & Lyu, Zeyu, 2020. "Trust, risk perception, and COVID-19 infections: Evidence from multilevel analyses of combined original dataset in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    12. Holger Sieg & Chamna Yoon & Jipeng Zhang, 2023. "The Impact Of Local Fiscal And Migration Policies On Human Capital Accumulation And Inequality In China," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(1), pages 57-93, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobility barriers; Employment allocations; China hukou; Social subsidies; Land policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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