How Does an Environmental Amenity Attract Voluntary Migrants? Evidence from Ambient Air Quality in China

Moon Joon Kim, Xiaolin Xie and Xiaochen Zhang
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Xiaolin Xie: Sanford School of Public Policy and Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
Xiaochen Zhang: Division of Social Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan 215316, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that air quality is an important amenity for population relocation in China. However, much of Chinese internal migration occurs due to non-discretionary reasons, such as government policies, family considerations, and military personnel reassignments. As such, estimates of the impact of environmental amenities on migration that do not control for migration reasons may be biased. Using the 2015 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this paper estimates the impact of ambient air pollution on voluntary migration to other provinces for work. We find that more polluted days (air quality index (AQI) > 150) at the original residence leads to a significant increase in labor out-migration to a province with better air quality, providing evidence of the current migration trend leading to declining populations in China’s megacities. Our findings indicate that environmental migration is more favored among households that are less educated, are older, work overtime, and have lower income, suggesting that environmental migration may result from environmental health inequalities in socially disadvantaged families.

Keywords: air quality; labor migration; environmental health inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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