The Effect of Air Pollution on Migration: Evidence from China

Shuai Chen, Paulina Oliva () and Peng Zhang

No 24036, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper looks at the effects of air pollution on migration in China using changes in the average strength of thermal inversions over five-year periods as a source of exogenous variation for medium-run air pollution levels. Our findings suggest that air pollution is responsible for large changes in inflows and outflows of migration in China. More specifically, we find that independent changes in air pollution of the magnitude that occurred in China in the course of our study (between 1996 and 2010) are capable of reducing floating migration inflows by 50 percent and of reducing population through net outmigration by 5 percent in a given county. We find that these inflows are primarily driven by well educated people at the beginning of their professional careers, leading to substantial changes in the sociodemographic composition of the population and labor force of Chinese counties. Our results are robust to different specifications, including simple counts of inversions as instruments, different weather controls, and different forms of error variance.

JEL-codes: O15 Q53 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-tra
Note: DEV EEE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (83)

Published as Shuai Chen & Paulina Oliva & Peng Zhang, 2022. "The effect of air pollution on migration: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, vol 156.

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