Migration externalities in Chinese cities

B-Tier
Journal: European Economic Review
Year: 2015
Volume: 76
Issue: C
Pages: 152-167

Authors (3)

Combes, Pierre-Philippe (not in RePEc) Démurger, Sylvie (not in RePEc) Li, Shi (Zhejiang University)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We analyse the impact of internal migration in China on natives׳ labour market outcomes. We find evidence of a large positive correlation of the city share of migrants with natives׳ wages. Using different sets of control variables and instruments suggests that the effect is causal. The large total migrant impact (+10% when one moves from the first to the third quartile of the migrant variable distribution) arises from gains due to complementarity with natives in the production function (+6.4%), and from gains due to agglomeration economies (+3.3%). Finally, we find some evidence of a stronger effect for skilled natives than for unskilled, as expected from theory. Overall, our findings support large nominal wage gains that can be expected from further migration and urbanisation in China.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:eecrev:v:76:y:2015:i:c:p:152-167
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25