How do institutional barriers to migration shape fertility in developing economies? We analyze the staggered removal of institutional barriers to rural-to-urban migration across 283 Chinese cities. We find that reducing these frictions led to a significant and persistent increase in fertility in...

Urban-to-rural return migration has become an increasingly important force reshaping rural livelihoods in China. Yet existing research on returnee entrepreneurship often assumes that migrants can transfer trans-local networks and resources accumulated during migration back to their hometowns and...

This article studies the role of disamenity work in the rural sector in the shift in the urban sector and growth of cities. We focus on the effects of dairy farming, a sector with famously harsh working conditions, in Sweden around the turn of the twentieth century on rural-urban migration,...

We examine sorting behavior across metropolitan areas by skill over individuals' life cycles. We show that high-skill workers disproportionately sort into high-amenity areas, but do so relatively early in life. Workers of all skill levels tend to move towards lower-amenity areas during their...

We examine sorting behavior across metropolitan areas by skill over individuals' life cycles. We show that high-skill workers disproportionately sort into high-amenity areas, but do so relatively early in life. Workers of all skill levels tend to move towards lower-amenity areas during their...

This study investigates broadband internet's impact on rural-urban migration in China, using the Universal Broadband and Telecommunication Services pilot program as a quasi-experimental setting. Analyzing China Household Finance Survey data (2013-2021) through difference-in-differences...

Africa's urban population is on the rise, and it is often feared that migrants are a direct source of urban underdevelopment under the premise that they are poorly integrated into urban labor markets. This study examines the validity of this premise using data from six African countries. It...

We document that large cities were instrumental in shaping women's work and family outcomes in the early 20th century. We focus on migrants to Stockholm, Sweden's largest city, using representative, linked census data. Female migrants to Stockholm saw persistent changes in work and family...

This paper examines the wage differentials between local and migrant workers in urban areas of the People's Republic of China. Using unique data from a survey that was designed to be representative of migrants and local residents, the study finds that, without considering differences in the...

In developing economies, rural households send their members to urban areas to cope with idiosyncratic shocks by sharing resources through internal remittances, which are more prevalent than international remittances. However, there is limited evidence on the role of internal remittances in...

The changing pattern of quality in China’s rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having...

Policies tackling rural depopulation are growing over the recent years and pose a significant challenge to policymakers and communities worldwide. This paper presents a systematic review of policy assessments aimed at mitigating rural depopulation. It encompasses 66 studies published since 2000....

This study examines the health impacts of a large-scale internal migration reform in China. Using nationally representative data from the China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey (2012-2018) and a unique dataset on city-level policy intensity and adoption timing, we employ a triple-difference approach...

We investigate the impact of China's 2014 hukou reform - a major change allowing migrants living in small and medium-sized cities of less than 5 million people to apply for urban residence - on formal and informal borrowing at a time of rapid economic transformation. We find that the hukou...

The changing pattern of quality in China’s rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having...

The aim of our research is to provide additional evidence of international migration's impact on economic growth in regions with ageing populations, namely by analysing the impact on rural versus urban areas in Spain. With Spanish provinces categorised as predominantly urban, predominantly rural...

Mobility matches open housing markets. With constrained mobility and partially open housing markets, market responses reflect the constraints. We study this mechanism by examining disparity in access to public schools across socio-economic groups, focusing on properties near primary schools...

Given its significance for economic and social sustainability, migrant entrepreneurship (ME) has attracted increasing attention from scholars and policymakers. However, existing research provides limited insights into how various antecedents jointly affect ME. To address this gap, this study...

In Mediterranean cities, settler colonial urbanisation operates through spatial homogenisation that transforms difference into otherness. Since 1979, in Budva, Montenegro, low-income working-class and forced migrants have confronted settler colonial urban practices—a system wherein established...

China's accession to the WTO created new economic opportunities in certain cities. A shift-share identification strategy shows that residents of adjacent rural areas migrated in and advanced economically. Longitudinal panel data on children reveals that their sons benefit, but...

How do rural Chinese households deal with the conflicting pressures of migrating into cities to work as well as staying at home to preserve their fields? This is particularly challenging for rice farmers, because paddy fields have to be cultivated continuously to retain their soil quality and...

In developing nations, remittances play a vital role in the development of the society. Remittances serve as a substantial income stream for rural households, empowering them to invest in farming activities, procure resources, and enhance their overall quality of life. This study focuses on...

This study estimates union wage premiums and analyzes the influence of trade unions on the wage gap between rural migrants and local urban workers in China by employing the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method based on national longitudinal survey data from the China Family Panel Studies...

This paper studies households' expenditure on the education of children in China's cities to assess how internal migrant families' investment in the human capital of their offspring differs from that of local urban families. The private education-related expenditure reflects both households'...

This research examines the heterogeneous impact of out-migration on the informal employment within the framework of rural transformation in Nepal. Employing a multinomial Probit model with instrumental variables, we analyze the influence of household-level migration on the informal employment...