IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v45y2013i30p4308-4322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are workers close to cities paid higher nonagricultural wages in rural China?

Author

Listed:
  • C. Duvivier
  • S. Li
  • M.-F. Renard

Abstract

It is widely recognized that nonagricultural earnings are crucial for the welfare of rural households in developing countries. In this study, we investigate whether workers close to cities are paid higher nonagricultural wages than workers in outlying rural areas. We find that workers close to urban areas not only benefit from more opportunities to engage in nonagricultural activities, but also from better paid jobs. In addition, we provide evidence on the transmission channels at work. The issue of spatial differences in nonagricultural earnings that we highlight is extremely serious for rural China where, because of the strong institutional restrictions on labour mobility, living conditions in an individual's birthplace still significantly affect his well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Duvivier & S. Li & M.-F. Renard, 2013. "Are workers close to cities paid higher nonagricultural wages in rural China?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(30), pages 4308-4322, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:45:y:2013:i:30:p:4308-4322
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2013.778953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2013.778953
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-362, March.
    2. Mary Amiti & Lisa Cameron, 2007. "Economic Geography and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 15-29, February.
    3. Laura Hering & Sandra Poncet, 2010. "Market Access and Individual Wages: Evidence from China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(1), pages 145-159, February.
    4. Winters, Paul & Davis, Benjamin & Carletto, Gero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Zezza, Alberto & Azzarri, Carlo & Stamoulis, Kostas, 2009. "Assets, Activities and Rural Income Generation: Evidence from a Multicountry Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    5. Gustafsson,Björn A. & Shi,Li & Sicular,Terry (ed.), 2008. "Inequality and Public Policy in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521870450, March.
    6. 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 767-782, July.
    7. Sylvie Démurger & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo & Shuming Bao & Gene Chang & Andrew Mellinger, 2002. "Geography, Economic Policy, and Regional Development in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 146-197.
    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Janvry, Alain de & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2001. "Income Strategies Among Rural Households in Mexico: The Role of Off-farm Activities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 467-480, March.
    10. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2009. "Agglomeration spillovers and wage and housing cost gradients across the urban hierarchy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 126-140, June.
    11. Redding, Stephen & Venables, Anthony J., 2004. "Economic geography and international inequality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82, January.
    12. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2001. "The Determinants of Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 191-229, September.
    13. Fally, Thibault & Paillacar, Rodrigo & Terra, Cristina, 2010. "Economic geography and wages in Brazil: Evidence from micro-data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 155-168, January.
    14. J. Vernon Henderson, Zmarak Shalizi, and Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "Geography and development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 81-105, January.
    15. François Bourguignon & Martin Fournier & Marc Gurgand, 2007. "Selection Bias Corrections Based On The Multinomial Logit Model: Monte Carlo Comparisons," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 174-205, February.
    16. de Brauw, Alan & Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott & Zhang, Linxiu & Zhang, Yigang, 2002. "The Evolution of China's Rural Labor Markets During the Reforms," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 329-353, June.
    17. Xiaoyun Liu & Terry Sicular, 2009. "Nonagricultural Employment Determinants and Income Inequality Decomposition," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 29-43, July.
    18. Frank Ellis, 1998. "Household strategies and rural livelihood diversification," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 1-38.
    19. Jonasson, Erik & Helfand, Steven M., 2010. "How Important are Locational Characteristics for Rural Non-agricultural Employment? Lessons from Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 727-741, May.
    20. Maja Micevska & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2008. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in the Himalayas," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 163-193, October.
    21. SHI, Xiaoping & Heerink, Nico & Qu, Futian, 2007. "Choices between different off-farm employment sub-categories: An empirical analysis for Jiangxi Province, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 438-455.
    22. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    23. Anping Chen & Mark D. Partridge, 2013. "When are Cities Engines of Growth in China? Spread and Backwash Effects across the Urban Hierarchy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(8), pages 1313-1331, September.
    24. de la Rupelle, Maëlys & Quheng, Deng & Li, Shi & Vendryes, Thomas, 2009. "Land Rights Insecurity and Temporary Migration in Rural China," IZA Discussion Papers 4668, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    25. Lanjouw, Peter & Quizon, Jaime & Sparrow, Robert, 2001. "Non-agricultural earnings in peri-urban areas of Tanzania: evidence from household survey data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 385-403, August.
    26. Marcel Fafchamps & Forhad Shilpi, 2003. "The spatial division of labour in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 23-66.
    27. Démurger, Sylvie & Li, Shi & Yang, Juan, 2012. "Earnings differentials between the public and private sectors in China: Exploring changes for urban local residents in the 2000s," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 138-153.
    28. Berdegue, Julio A. & Ramirez, Eduardo & Reardon, Thomas & Escobar, German, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Employment and Incomes in Chile," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 411-425, March.
    29. Rozelle Scott, 1994. "Rural Industrialization and Increasing Inequality: Emerging Patterns in China's Reforming Economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 362-391, December.
    30. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent, 2008. "Spatial wage disparities: Sorting matters!," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 723-742, March.
    31. Xia, Qingjie & Simmons, Colin, 2004. "Diversify and prosper: Peasant households participating in emerging markets in northeast rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 375-397.
    32. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1983. "Generalized Econometric Models with Selectivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(2), pages 507-512, March.
    33. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2008. "Distance From Urban Agglomeration Economies And Rural Poverty," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 285-310, May.
    34. Shanzi Ke & Edward Feser, 2010. "Count on the Growth Pole Strategy for Regional Economic Growth? Spread-Backwash Effects in Greater Central China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1131-1147.
    35. Deichmann, Uwe & Shilpi, Forhad & Vakis, Renos, 2009. "Urban Proximity, Agricultural Potential and Rural Non-farm Employment: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 645-660, March.
    36. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Lanjouw, Peter, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Activities and Poverty in the Brazilian Northeast," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 509-528, March.
    37. Gordon B. Dahl, 2002. "Mobility and the Return to Education: Testing a Roy Model with Multiple Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2367-2420, November.
    38. Barry Naughton, 2007. "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262640643.
    39. Bird, Kate & Shepherd, Andrew, 2003. "Livelihoods and Chronic Poverty in Semi-Arid Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 591-610, March.
    40. John Knight & Lina Song, 2003. "Chinese Peasant Choices: Migration, Rural Industry or Farming," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 123-148.
    41. Bai, Chong-En & Ma, Hong & Pan, Wenqing, 2012. "Spatial spillover and regional economic growth in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 982-990.
    42. Mohapatra, Sandeep & Rozelle, Scott & Goodhue, Rachael, 2007. "The Rise of Self-Employment in Rural China: Development or Distress?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 163-181, January.
    43. Li, Haizheng, 2003. "Economic transition and returns to education in China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 317-328, June.
    44. Kung, James Kai-sing, 2002. "Off-Farm Labor Markets and the Emergence of Land Rental Markets in Rural China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 395-414, June.
    45. Corral, Leonardo & Reardon, Thomas, 2001. "Rural Nonfarm Incomes in Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 427-442, March.
    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. Chloé Duvivier, 2013. "Does Urban Proximity Enhance Technical Efficiency? Evidence From Chinese Agriculture," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 923-943, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:v:45:y:2013:i:30:p:4308-4322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Chris Longhurst). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.