Self-employment and intention of permanent urban settlement: Evidence from a survey of migrants in China’s four major urbanising areas

Guangzhong Cao, Ming Li, Yan Ma and Ran Tao
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Guangzhong Cao: College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, China
Ming Li: Renmin University of China, China
Yan Ma: National Caijing Magazine Xinhua News Agency, China
Ran Tao: Renmin University of China, China

Urban Studies, 2015, vol. 52, issue 4, 639-664

Abstract: Drawing on a survey of migrants in 12 cities across four major urbanising areas in China, this paper analyses rural migrants’ intention for permanent urban settlement. We focus on one sizeable but often overlooked group of rural migrants, that is, the self-employed. Our hypothesis is that the self-employed migrants tend to have stronger intention for permanent urban settlement since they are usually more ingrained in urban economy and society. The empirical evidence supports our hypothesis. Moreover, the social and economic choices made by the self-employed migrants are consistent with their expressed intentions: they are more likely to migrate with spouses and to live with their family members, more likely to have a plan for house purchase in cities; they are also more integrated into urban society in terms of learning local dialects and making friends with local permanent residents.

Keywords: China; migration; permanent settlement; self-employment; urbanisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:4:p:639-664

DOI: 10.1177/0042098014529346

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