Access to local citizenship and internal migration in a developing country: Evidence from a Hukou reform in China

Zhangfeng Jin () and Junsen Zhang

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2023, vol. 51, issue 1, 181-215

Abstract: This study examines the impact of access to local citizenship (i.e., the status of being local residents with hukou in the context of China) on internal migration by exploiting variations in the timing and intensity of exposure to a hukou reform across 283 Chinese cities. Using population censuses and data we collected on the adoption of the hukou reform, we find that improved access to hukou substantially increases migration. The impact is more pronounced for young and low- and medium-skilled workers. Moreover, the impact persists over the long term. The policy positively affects local labor market probably through increased domestic consumption from migrants who (are prepared to) obtain local hukou in destinations. These findings demonstrate the importance of lifting barriers to local citizenship for internal migration in China. Underlying mechanisms and competing hypotheses are also analyzed.

Keywords: access to local citizenship; hukou; internal migration; labor market; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F66 H31 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596722000610
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:51:y:2023:i:1:p:181-215

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2022.08.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Comparative Economics is currently edited by D. Berkowitz and G. Roland

More articles in Journal of Comparative Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().