Village Political Economy, Land Tenure Insecurity and the Rural to Urban Migration Decision: Evidence from China

• From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
• Published: 1 January 2011

• Country: China
• Document Type: Working Paper
• Theme: Economic Growth
• First published: 1 January 2011
• Authors: Giles, J. and Ren Mu

Abstract

This paper finds that increases in the probability of facing a village-wide land reallocation is associated with a decline in the probability that a rural resident will migrate to urban China. A model is first developed to examine the village leader바카라 사이트檚 reallocation decision, and then to incorporate the village leader바카라 사이트檚 decision into an individual바카라 사이트檚 migration decision. Crucial for our identification, the heterogeneity of patrilineal clans within a village is associated with the cost of reallocating land. Next, we show that the probability of a village-wide reallocation is a function of exogenously determined election-timing interacted with the share of households in a village belonging to the largest patrilineal clan in the first year of a panel survey. This interaction is then used to identify the effect of land tenure insecurity on migration decisions.

Citation

Giles, J.; Ren Mu. Village Political Economy, Land Tenure Insecurity and the Rural to Urban Migration Decision: Evidence from China. The World Bank, Washington DC, USA (2011) 46 pp.

Links

Published 1 January 2011