Abstract
Obstacles to internal migration in China contribute to inefficiency, inequality, and land degradation. Academic and policy debate has primarily focused on discrimination against rural migrants on arrival in urban areas. Meanwhile, barriers to migration out of rural areas have received less attention. This paper examines the role of incomplete rural property rights in the migration decisions of rural households. We examine the relationship between tenure insecurity and restrictions on land rentals, and participation in outside labor markets. The results indicate that tenure insecurity reduces migration. This relationship is particularly pronounced on forest land, which has implications for the conservation of recently replanted forest areas.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 123-133 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | World Development |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2011 |
Funding
We would like to acknowledge the financial support of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development as well as the assistance of the School of Environmental Sciences of Beijing University in implementing the survey used in this paper and particularly the help received by Prof. Shiqiu Zhang. We are grateful for the comments received by Prof. Tim Swanson, Dr. Ben Groom, Dr. Shinwei Ng, Prof. David Pearce, Prof. Jerry Warford, and Prof. Jintao Xu.
| Funders |
|---|
| Beijing International Studies University |
Keywords
- Asia
- China
- Land rental rights
- Land tenure security
- Rural-urban migration
