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Children of Migrants: The Impact of Parental Migration on Their Children's Education and Health Outcomes

Author

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  • Meng, Xin

    (Australian National University)

  • Yamauchi, Chikako

    (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies Japan)

Abstract

In the past 15 years around 160 million Chinese rural workers migrated to cities to work. Because of restrictions on migrant access to local health and education system a large cohort of migrant children are left-behind in rural villages and growing up without parental care. This paper examines how parental migration affects children's health and education outcomes. Using the Rural-Urban Migration Survey in China (RUMiC) data we are able to measure the share of children's lifetime during which parents migrated away from home. By instrumenting this measure of parental migration with weather changes in their home village when they were young we find a sizable adverse impact of exposure to parental migration on children's health and education outcomes. We also find that what the literature has always done (using contemporaneous measure for parental migration) is likely to underestimate the effect of exposure to parental migration on children's outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng, Xin & Yamauchi, Chikako, 2015. "Children of Migrants: The Impact of Parental Migration on Their Children's Education and Health Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 9165, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9165
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. He Zhu & Tsunehiro OTSUKI, 2018. "Can Two Consecutive Generations’ Data Predict Longterm Intergenerational Transition? Evidence from China with three generations," OSIPP Discussion Paper 18E004, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    2. Luo, Xiaoman, 2020. "How Does Parental Out-migration Affect Left-behind Children’s Schooling Outcomes? – Effect Sizes and Mechanisms," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304495, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Luigi Minale, 2018. "Agricultural productivity shocks, labour reallocation and rural–urban migration in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 795-821.
    4. Anas, Yulia & Alisjahbana, Armida & Purnagunawan, Rd. M. & Fahmi, Mohamad, 2022. "The Effect of Parental Internal Migration on Children’s Education: Evidence from Indonesia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(2), pages 115-127.
    5. Cameron, Lisa & Meng, Xin & Zhang, Dandan, 2022. "Does being “left–behind” in childhood lead to criminality in adulthood? Evidence from data on rural-urban migrants and prison inmates in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 675-693.
    6. Babar Nawaz Abbasi & Zhimin Luo & Ali Sohail, 2023. "Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Dang Hai-Anh H. & Huang Yang & Selod Harris, 2020. "Children Left Behind in China: The Role of School Fees," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-29, January.
    8. Liu, Zhiqiang & Yu, Li & Zheng, Xiang, 2018. "No longer left-behind: The impact of return migrant parents on children's performance," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 184-196.
    9. Wahba, Jackline & Wang, Chuhong, 2019. "Sons or Daughters? The Impact of Children's Migration on the Health and Well-Being of Parents Left Behind," IZA Discussion Papers 12370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Dandan Zhang & Xin Li & Jinjun Xue, 2015. "Education Inequality between Rural and Urban Areas of the People's Republic of China, Migrants’ Children Education, and Some Implications," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(1), pages 196-224, March.
    11. Liu, Jing & Xing, Chunbing, 2016. "Migrate for education: An unintended effect of school district combination in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 192-206.
    12. Zhang, Huafeng, 2017. "Opportunity or new poverty trap: Rural-urban education disparity and internal migration in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 112-124.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; children; education; health; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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