IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v39y2023i1d10.1007_s10680-023-09658-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Love is Elsewhere: Internal Migration and Marriage Prospects in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wanru Xiong

    (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Urban Governance and Design Thrust)

Abstract

Migration and marriage are major life events that might interact and be jointly decided. Places with good labor market opportunities may or may not provide good marriage options. In this paper, I quantify gains and losses in marriage prospects for unmarried migrants and natives during the population redistribution driven by internal migration. I also examine how the experiences differ by individual characteristics and regional factors. The analysis measures marriage prospects using the availability ratio (AR) with adaptive assortative matching norms for every unmarried individual from sample data of the 2010 China population census. The AR quantifies the intensity of competition for suitable partners in the local marriage market. I compare (1) migrants’ current AR with an alternative AR if the migrant returned to the hometown and (2) natives’ AR with a hypothetical AR if all migrants returned to their hometown. The first comparison shows that among migrants moving for labor market opportunities, most women have higher ARs (better marriage prospects) in the place of residence than in their hometown, especially those of rural origin. In contrast, migrant men’s ARs mostly decrease after migration except for the best educated. The second comparison reveals small negative externalities of internal migration on ARs for native women but positive impacts for some native men. The results suggest a conflict between labor market opportunities that dominate internal migration decisions and marriage market opportunities in China. This study demonstrates a method to quantify and compare marriage prospects and extends the literature on how migration and marriage interact.

Suggested Citation

  • Wanru Xiong, 2023. "Love is Elsewhere: Internal Migration and Marriage Prospects in China," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-29, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:39:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-023-09658-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-023-09658-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-023-09658-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-023-09658-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas J. Cox, 2009. "Speaking Stata: Creating and varying box plots," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(3), pages 478-496, September.
    2. Eugene Choo & Aloysius Siow, 2006. "Who Marries Whom and Why," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(1), pages 175-201, February.
    3. repec:cai:poeine:pope_501_0037 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jia Yu & Yu Xie, 2015. "Changes in the Determinants of Marriage Entry in Post-Reform Urban China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1869-1892, December.
    5. repec:wyi:journl:002164 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Matthijs Kalmijn & Frank Tubergen, 2010. "A comparative perspective on intermarriage: Explaining differences among national-origin groups in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(2), pages 459-479, May.
    7. Pierre-André Chiappori & Monica Costa Dias & Costas Meghir, 2018. "The Marriage Market, Labor Supply, and Education Choice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(S1), pages 26-72.
    8. Rong Cui & Jeffrey H. Cohen, 2015. "Reform and the HuKou System in China," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 12(3), pages 327-335, September.
    9. Scott South & Kim Lloyd, 1992. "Marriage markets and nonmarital fertility in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(2), pages 247-264, May.
    10. Ran Abramitzky & Adeline Delavande & Luis Vasconcelos, 2011. "Marrying Up: The Role of Sex Ratio in Assortative Matching," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 124-157, July.
    11. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Jane Waldfogel, 2000. "Understanding Young Women's Marriage Decisions: The Role of Labor and Marriage Market Conditions," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(4), pages 624-647, July.
    12. Albert Esteve & Joan García-Román & Iñaki Permanyer, 2012. "The Gender-Gap Reversal in Education and Its Effect on Union Formation: The End of Hypergamy?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 38(3), pages 535-546, September.
    13. Ansley Coale & Judith Banister, 1994. "Five decades of missing females in China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(3), pages 459-479, August.
    14. Jia Yu & Yu Xie, 2021. "Recent trends in the Chinese family: National estimates from 1990 to 2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(25), pages 595-608.
    15. Fu, Yuming & Gabriel, Stuart A., 2012. "Labor migration, human capital agglomeration and regional development in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 473-484.
    16. Feijten Peteke & Maarten van Ham, 2007. "Residential mobility and migration of the separated," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(21), pages 623-654.
    17. Song, Yang, 2014. "What should economists know about the current Chinese hukou system?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-212.
    18. Stark, Oded, 1988. "On marriage and migration," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 23-37.
    19. Hill Kulu & Nadja Milewski, 2007. "Family change and migration in the life course," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(19), pages 567-590.
    20. Tabellini, Marco, 2020. "Gifts of the Immigrants, Woes of the Natives: Lessons from the Age of Mass Migration," CEPR Discussion Papers 14317, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    21. Yue Qian & Zhenchao Qian, 2014. "The gender divide in urban China: Singlehood and assortative mating by age and education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(45), pages 1337-1364.
    22. Pierre-André Chiappori, 2020. "The Theory and Empirics of the Marriage Market," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 547-578, August.
    23. William Betz & Nicole Simpson, 2013. "The effects of international migration on the well-being of native populations in Europe," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-21, December.
    24. Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-773, October.
    25. Peter Kuhn & Kailing Shen, 2013. "Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Evidence from China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 287-336.
    26. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Native Internal Migration and the Labor Market Impact of Immigration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 10, pages 275-312, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    27. Magdalena Muszyńska-Spielauer & Hill Kulu, 2007. "Migration and union dissolution in a changing socio-economic context," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(27), pages 803-820.
    28. Jan Eckhard & Johannes Stauder, 2018. "Migration and the Partner Market: How Gender-Selective Relocations Affect Regional Mating Chances in Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 59-86, February.
    29. Albert Esteve & Christine R. Schwartz & Jan Bavel & Iñaki Permanyer & Martin Klesment & Joan García-Román, 2016. "The End of Hypergamy: Global Trends and Implications," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 42(4), pages 615-625, December.
    30. Júlia Mikolai & Hill Kulu, 2018. "Divorce, Separation, and Housing Changes: A Multiprocess Analysis of Longitudinal Data from England and Wales," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 83-106, February.
    31. Hongyun Han, 2010. "Trends in educational assortative marriage in China from 1970 to 2000," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(24), pages 733-770.
    32. Ethan Sharygin & Avraham Ebenstein & Monica Das Gupta, 2013. "Implications of China's future bride shortage for the geographical distribution and social protection needs of never-married men," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(1), pages 39-59, March.
    33. Robert Schoen, 1983. "Measuring the tightness of a marriage squeeze," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 20(1), pages 61-78, February.
    34. Susan Lewis & Valerie Oppenheimer, 2000. "Educational assortative mating across marriage markets: Nonhispanic whites in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(1), pages 29-40, February.
    35. Thomas J. Cooke & Clara H. Mulder & Michael Thomas, 2016. "Union dissolution and migration," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(26), pages 741-760.
    36. Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana Amyra, 1984. "A Theory of Allocation of Time in Markets for Labour and Marriage," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(376), pages 863-882, December.
    37. Marco Tabellini, 2020. "Gifts of the Immigrants, Woes of the Natives: Lessons from the Age of Mass Migration," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 454-486.
    38. Burdett, Kenneth & Vishwanath, Tara, 1988. "Balanced Matching and Labor Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(5), pages 1048-1065, October.
    39. Yan Wei & Li Zhang, 2016. "Understanding Hypergamous Marriages of Chinese Rural Women," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(6), pages 877-898, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang Yang, 2023. "Hukou Identity and Economic Behaviours: A Social Identity Perspective," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph23-02 edited by Catherine Bros & Julie Lochard, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2021. "Love, life, and “leftover ladies” in urban China: Staying modernly single in patriarchal traditions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Ningzi Li & Yue Qian, 2018. "The Impact of Educational Pairing and Urban Residency on Household Financial Investments in Urban China," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 551-565, December.
    3. Giulia Corti & Stefani Scherer, 2021. "Mating Market and Dynamics of Union Formation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 851-876, November.
    4. Albert Esteve & Coro Chasco & Antonio López-Gay, 2022. "Modeling Local Variations in Intermarriage," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Augsburg, Britta & Baquero, Juan P. & Gautam, Sanghmitra & Rodriguez-Lesmes, Paul, 2023. "Sanitation and marriage markets in India: Evidence from the Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Roselinde Wiel & Niels Kooiman & Clara H. Mulder, 2021. "Family Complexity and Parents’ Migration: The Role of Repartnering and Distance to Non-Resident Children," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 877-907, November.
    7. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2016. "Love, Life, and “Leftover Ladies” in Urban China," MPRA Paper 70494, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Albert Esteve & Ridhi Kashyap & Joan García-Román & Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng & Setsuya Fukuda & Wanli Nie & Hyun-ok Lee, 2020. "Demographic change and increasing late singlehood in East Asia, 2010–2050," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(46), pages 1367-1398.
    9. Margarita Chudnovskaya, 2019. "Trends in Childlessness Among Highly Educated Men in Sweden," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(5), pages 939-958, December.
    10. Zhiyong Lin & Sonalde Desai & Feinian Chen, 2020. "The Emergence of Educational Hypogamy in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1215-1240, August.
    11. Nie, Haifeng & Xing, Chunbing, 2019. "Education expansion, assortative marriage, and income inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 37-51.
    12. Rodríguez-González, Ana, 2021. "The Impact of the Female Advantage in Education on the Marriage Market," Working Papers 2021:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    13. Tushar Bharati & Wina Yoman, 2021. "Internal Migration and Labor Market Outcomes in Indonesia," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-05, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. J. Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Molina, 2013. "Parents’ education as a determinant of educational childcare time," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 719-749, April.
    15. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr & Arthur Sweetman, 2020. "An introduction to the economics of immigration in OECD countries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1365-1403, November.
    16. Tampieri, A., 2022. "The effects of educational assortative matching on job and marital satisfaction," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Hill Kulu & Júlia Mikolai & Michael J. Thomas & Sergi Vidal & Christine Schnor & Didier Willaert & Fieke H. L. Visser & Clara H. Mulder, 2021. "Separation and Elevated Residential Mobility: A Cross-Country Comparison," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(1), pages 121-150, March.
    18. Zhenchao Qian & Ming-Chang Tsai, 2022. "Relative Economic Position and Female Marriage Migration: Marrying Men in Taiwan Across Borders and Boundaries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(4), pages 1451-1470, August.
    19. Yiru Wang, 2023. "Famine and matching by socioeconomic status—evidence from the Great Chinese Famine," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 855-912, September.
    20. John Knowles & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2019. "Fertility Shocks And Equilibrium Marriage‐Rate Dynamics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1505-1537, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:39:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-023-09658-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.