【主讲】Junfu Zhang 副教授 (Clark University)
【主题】The Preference for Larger Cities in China: Evidence from Rural-Urban Migrants
【时间】2012年6月21日 (周四) 15：30-17：00
【地点】上海财经大学经济学院楼801室
【语言】英文
【摘要】China has long aimed to contain population growth at large cities but encourage such growth in small and medium sized cities. At the same time, various government policies favor large cities. We conjecture that lager cities in China have more urban amenities and better quality of life. We thus predict that a typical rural-urban migrant will be willing to give up some income in order to live in a larger city. We present a simple model in which rural-urban migrants derive utilities from consumption and urban amenities, and they choose a migration destination to maximize utility. Drawing data from a large-scale population survey conducted in 2005, we first estimate each migrant’s potential earnings in each possible destination city, using a semi-parametric method to correct for potential selection biases. We then estimate the typical migrant’s preferences for population size as well as other city characteristics, using a two-stage method to deal with potential endogeneity and omitted-variables problems. From these estimation results, we can calculate the typical migrant’s willingness to pay for city size and various urban amenities. We find that indeed rural-urban migrants strongly prefer cities with larger populations. We explore possible explanations for this preference and discuss the implications of these findings.
