Relative Concerns of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China

Alpaslan Akay (), Olivier Bargain and Klaus Zimmermann ()

No 5480, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: As their environment changes, migrants constitute an interesting group to study the effect of relative income on subjective well-being. This paper focuses on the huge population of rural-to-urban migrants in China. Using a novel dataset, we find that the well-being of migrants depends on several reference groups: it is negatively affected by the income of other migrants and workers of home regions; in contrast, we identify a positive, 'signal' effect vis-à-vis urban workers: larger urban incomes indicate higher income prospects for the migrants. These effects are particularly strong for migrants who wish to settle permanently, decline with years since migrations and change with other characteristics including work conditions and community ties.

Keywords: relative concerns; China; well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2011-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig, nep-tra and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2012, 81, 421-441

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Related works:
Journal Article: Relative concerns of rural-to-urban migrants in China (2012)
Working Paper: Relative Concerns of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China (2011)
Working Paper: Relative Concerns of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China (2011)
Working Paper: Relative Concerns of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China (2011)
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