Aging and Migration in a Transition Economy: The Case of China

Örn B. Bodvarsson (), Jack Hou and Kailing Shen
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Örn B. Bodvarsson: Retired

No 8351, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Post-reform China has been experiencing two major demographic changes, an extraordinary amount of internal migration and an aging population. We present a general migration model which captures the idea that older migrants have shorter durations in the destination but possibly larger general human capital to transfer. Therefore, the incentive to migrate is ambiguously related to age. We test the theoretical implication using an extended modified gravity model, nuanced to fit the case of a transition economy. We find that shifts in China's age distribution have generated significant changes in the country's migration patterns.

Keywords: internal migration; age distribution; reforms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2014-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-cna, nep-mig and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published as 'Aging and Migration: Micro and Macro Evidence from China' in: Frontiers of Economics in China, 2016, 11 (4), 548-580

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