 The impact of anti-corruption on migration and family welfareMengyue Zhang, Siyan Tang and Jinyang Ren China Economic Review, 2025, vol. 93, issue C Abstract: This study examines the impact of anti-corruption on migration patterns and family welfare. By leveraging the varying effects of China's anti-corruption campaign across counties with different pre-existing corruption levels, we apply an intensity Difference-in-Differences approach. Our findings reveal a significant decline in labor outflows attributed to the campaign, especially in rural households. The reduction in the number of migrants within a family in the most corrupt counties is about 0.4 units greater compared to the least corrupt counties post-campaign. Three mechanisms are identified through which the campaign may influence migration: increased government subsidies, enhanced satisfaction with income, and reinforced social identity. However, tangible improvements in infrastructure are minimal. Additionally, the reduction in migration correlates with fewer left-behind children, and improved health and academic outcomes. The elderly also receive increased care from their children and exhibit better health post-campaign. Keywords: Anti-corruption; Migration; Government subsidies; Social identity; Left-behind children (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chieco:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s1043951x25001506 DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102492 Access Statistics for this article China Economic Review is currently edited by B.M. Fleisher, K. X. D. Huang, M.E. Lovely, Y. Wen, X. Zhang and X. Zhu More articles in China Economic Review from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.