Left‐Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China

Sylvie Démurger and Hui Xu
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Hui Xu: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This paper examines how left-behind children influence return migration in China. We first present a simple model that incorporates economic and non-economic motives for migration duration (or intentions to return). Based on Dustmann (2003b), the parent is assumed to be altruistic and to care about the prospects of her left-behind children. We then propose two complementary empirical tests based on an original dataset from a rural household survey carried out in Wuwei County (Anhui province, China) in fall 2008. We first use a discrete-time proportional hazard model to estimate the determinants of migration duration for both on-going migrants with incomplete length of duration and return migrants with complete length of duration. Second, we apply a binary Probit model to study the return intentions of on-going migrants. Both models find consistent results regarding the role of left-behind children as a significant motive for return. First, left-behind children are found to pull their parents back to the village, the effect being stronger for pre-school children. Second, sons are found to play a more important role than daughters in reducing migration duration.

Keywords: return migration; migration duration; left-behind children; discrete-time duration analysis; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-mig and nep-tra
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00617039v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in 2011

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Related works:
Working Paper: Left-Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China (2013)
Working Paper: Left-Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China (2011)
Working Paper: Left-Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China (2011)
Working Paper: Left-Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China (2011)
Working Paper: Left-Behind Children and Return Decisions of Rural Migrants in China (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00617039

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