IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9213.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Left Behind, At Risk, and Vulnerable Elders in Rural China: What the RUMIC Data Reveal about the Extent, Causes, and Consequences of Being Left Behind

Author

Listed:
  • Connelly, Rachel

    (Bowdoin College)

  • Maurer-Fazio, Margaret

    (Bates College)

Abstract

Migration of any distance separates family members for long periods of time. In China, an institutional legacy continues to privilege the migration of working-age individuals who often leave children and elders behind in the rural areas. Up to now, the literature has treated children and elders analogously, labeling each group "left-behind". We argue that analysis of elder stayers needs to be more nuanced, distinguishing among differing groups of elders. Of these groups, those living alone without any adult children in the village are most at risk of negative consequences of migration, while those living with other non-migrant children are much less affected by migration. We find evidence, when focusing on the consequences of migration on elders, that an elder-centric analysis is preferable to a migrant-child-centric analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Connelly, Rachel & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2015. "Left Behind, At Risk, and Vulnerable Elders in Rural China: What the RUMIC Data Reveal about the Extent, Causes, and Consequences of Being Left Behind," IZA Discussion Papers 9213, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9213.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Hongqin & Dong, Xiao-yuan & MacPhail, Fiona, 2011. "Labor Migration and Time Use Patterns of the Left-behind Children and Elderly in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2199-2210.
    2. Gustafsson,Björn A. & Shi,Li & Sicular,Terry (ed.), 2008. "Inequality and Public Policy in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521870450.
    3. Xiaoyan Lei & John Strauss & Meng Tian & Yaohui Zhao, 2011. "Living Arrangements of the Elderly in China Evidence from CHARLS," Working Papers WR-866, RAND Corporation.
    4. Wang Sophie Xuefei, 2014. "The Effect of Parental Migration on the Educational Attainment of Their Left-Behind Children in Rural China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-44, July.
    5. Costanza Biavaschi & Corrado Giulietti & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2015. "Sibling Influence on the Human Capital of the Left-Behind," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(4), pages 403-438.
    6. Denise Hare, 1999. "'Push' versus 'pull' factors in migration outflows and returns: Determinants of migration status and spell duration among China's rural population," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 45-72.
    7. Lei, Xiaoyan & Strauss, John & Tian, Meng & Zhao, Yaohui, 2011. "Living Arrangements of the Elderly in China: Evidence from CHARLS," IZA Discussion Papers 6249, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    8. Smith, James P. & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui, 2014. "Healthy aging in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 37-43.
    9. Giles, John & Wang, Dewen & Zhao, Changbao, 2010. "Can China's rural elderly count on support from adult children ? implications of rural-to-urban migration," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5510, The World Bank.
    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. He Zhu, 2018. "Why People Leave Their Rural Hometown:Evidence from 8 Provinces in China," OSIPP Discussion Paper 18E010, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    2. AO, Xiang & JIANG, Dawei & ZHAO, Zhong, 2016. "The impact of rural–urban migration on the health of the left-behind parents," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 126-139.

    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. Connelly, Rachel & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2016. "Left behind, at-risk, and vulnerable elders in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 140-153.
    2. Lei, Xiaoyan & Giles, John & Hu, Yuqing & Park, Albert & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui, 2012. "Patterns and correlates of intergenerational non-time transfers : evidence from CHARLS," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6076, The World Bank.
    3. Connelly, Rachel & Iannotti, Michael & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Zhang, Dandan, 2014. "Coresidency, Ethnicity, and Happiness of China's Rural Elders," IZA Discussion Papers 8194, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Lingguo Cheng & Hong Liu & Ye Zhang & Zhong Zhao, 2018. "The heterogeneous impact of pension income on elderly living arrangements: evidence from China’s new rural pension scheme," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 155-192, January.
    5. Bloom, D.E. & Luca, D.L., 2016. "The Global Demography of Aging," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 3-56, Elsevier.
    6. Wang, Le, 2013. "Estimating returns to education when the IV sample is selective," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 74-85.
    7. Ren Mu & Yang Du, 2017. "Pension Coverage for Parents and Educational Investment in Children: Evidence from Urban China," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(2), pages 483-503.
    8. Sen Ma & Fangqi Wen, 2016. "Who Coresides With Parents? An Analysis Based on Sibling Comparative Advantage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 623-647, June.
    9. Sylvie Démurger & Shi Li, 2013. "Migration, Remittances, and Rural Employment Patterns: Evidence from China," Research in Labor Economics, in: Labor Market Issues in China, pages 31-63, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Shanwen Zhu & Man Li & Renyao Zhong & Peter C. Coyte, 2019. "The Effects of Co-Residence on the Subjective Well-Being of Older Chinese Parents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, April.
    11. David E. Bloom & Dara Lee Luca, 2016. "The Global Demography of Aging: Facts, Explanations, Future," PGDA Working Papers 13016, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    12. Connelly, Rachel & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Zhang, Dandan, 2014. "The Role of Coresidency with Adult Children in the Labor Force Participation Decisions of Older Men and Women in China," IZA Discussion Papers 8068, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Cheng, Lingguo & Liu, Hong & Zhang, Ye & Zhao, Zhong, 2018. "The health implications of social pensions: Evidence from China's new rural pension scheme," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 53-77.
    14. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-00744438 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jin Yang & Hui Wang & Songqing Jin & Kevin Chen & Jeffrey Riedinger & Chao Peng, 2016. "Migration, local off-farm employment, and agricultural production efficiency: evidence from China," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 247-259, June.
    16. Ding, Sai & Dong, Xiao-Yuan & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2016. "How Do Pre-School and/or School-Age Children Affect Parents' Likelihood of Migration and Off-Farm Work in Rural China's Minority Regions?," IZA Discussion Papers 10073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Baeten, Steef & Van Ourti, Tom & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2013. "Rising inequalities in income and health in China: Who is left behind?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1214-1229.
    18. Yang, Juan & SICULAR, Terry & LAI, Desheng, 2014. "The changing determinants of high school attainment in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 551-566.
    19. 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.
    20. He, Quqiong & Pan, Ying & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2018. "Lineage-based heterogeneity and cooperative behavior in rural China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 248-269.
    21. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2019. "Growing into Relative Income Poverty: Urban China 1988 to 2013," IZA Discussion Papers 12422, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    left behind; elderly; rural; China; aging; living arrangements; at risk; migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp9213. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.