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Educational Choice, Rural-urban Migration and Economic Development: The Role of Zhaosheng in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yin-Chi Wang

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Ping Wang

    (Washington University in St. Louis)

  • Chong Yip

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Pei-Ju Liao

    (Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica)

Abstract

Observing China's rapid skill-enhanced development and urbanization process accompanied by continual reforms of the household registration system, we explore the underlying drivers, highlighting the channel of rural to urban migration. In addition to conventional work-based migration, we incorporate education-based migration by constructing a dynamic spatial equilibrium model of migration decisions with educational choice. We then calibrate our model to fit the data from China over the 1980--2007 period. We find that the effects of education-based migration on total per capita output cannot be ignored. There also exist rich interactions between the two migration channels. Furthermore, our results suggest that the increase in the college admission selectivity for rural students seriously depresses China's development. Policy experiments on migration and labour-market regulations are also conducted to assess their quantitative significance.

Suggested Citation

  • Yin-Chi Wang & Ping Wang & Chong Yip & Pei-Ju Liao, 2017. "Educational Choice, Rural-urban Migration and Economic Development: The Role of Zhaosheng in China," 2017 Meeting Papers 738, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed017:738
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Kang, Lili & Peng, Fei & Zhu, Yu, 2018. "Returns to higher education subjects and tiers in China - Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," GLO Discussion Paper Series 238, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Nikolay Kurichev & Ekaterina Kuricheva, 2020. "Interregional migration, the housing market, and a spatial shift in the metro area: Interrelationships in the case study of Moscow," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 689-703, August.
    4. Monteforte, Fabio, 2020. "Structural change, the push-pull hypothesis and the Spanish labour market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 148-169.
    5. Garriga, Carlos & Hedlund, Aaron & Tang, Yang & Wang, Ping, 2021. "Rural-urban migration and house prices in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Yao, Yao, 2019. "Does higher education expansion enhance productivity?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 169-194.

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