Chinese Hukou Policy and Rural-to-Urban Migrants’ Health: Evidence from Matching Methods

Marta Bengoa () and Christopher Rick
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Marta Bengoa: City University of New York

Eastern Economic Journal, 2020, vol. 46, issue 2, No 3, 224-259

Abstract: Abstract Internal migration and the provision of social benefits in China are restricted by the institutional policy, commonly called hukou. Hukou status is mainly determined by place of origin. It creates a two-tier system that exacerbates inequality across Chinese households—rural versus urban hukou. We apply coarsened exact matching methods and propensity score models to estimate the impact of obtaining an urban hukou on rural-to-urban migrants’ health outcomes. Our results indicate that migrants with urban hukou maintain lower levels of blood pressure and are less likely to develop hypertension or nutritional conditions compared to rural hukou migrants. We do not find significant results on self-rated health. Our findings show that, in the short-medium term, there are differences in health that are prevalent for migrants with different hukous.

Keywords: Internal migration; Hukou registration system; Health outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 I15 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41302-019-00158-z

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