Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China

Clément Imbert, Marlon Seror, Yifan Zhang and Yanos Zylberberg

American Economic Review, 2022, vol. 112, issue 6, 1885-1914

Abstract: How does rural-urban migration shape urban production in developing countries? We use longitudinal data on Chinese manufacturing firms between 2000 and 2006, and exploit exogenous variation in rural-urban migration induced by agricultural income shocks for identification. We find that, when immigration increases, manufacturing production becomes more labor intensive and productivity declines. We investigate the reorganization of production using patent applications and product information. We show that rural-urban migration induces both labor-oriented technological change and the adoption of labor intensive product varieties.

JEL-codes: D24 L23 L60 O33 P25 P31 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China (2020)
Working Paper: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China (2020)
Working Paper: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China (2018)
Working Paper: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China (2018)
Working Paper: Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China (2018)
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191234

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