In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of households in rural China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households...

Social networks play a vital role in generating social learning and information exchange that can drive the diffusion of new financial innovations. This is particularly relevant for developing countries where education, extension and financial information services are underprovided. The recent...

In this paper, we investigate how reductions of barriers to migration affect the decision of middle school graduates to attend high school in rural China. Change in the cost of migration is identified using exogenous variation across counties in the timing of national identity card distribution,...