Speaker:ZHANG Yifan (Associate Professor, Department of Economics, The Chinese University of Hongkong)
Description:Thispaper estimates the causal effect of rural migration on urban production inChina. Using a panel of Chinese manufacturing firms, we exploit exogenousvariation in rural-urban migration due to agricultural price shocks. We findthat following a migrant inflow, labor costs decline and employment expands.Labor productivity decreases sharply and remains low in the medium run. Aquantitative framework suggests that migration mostly benefits low-productivityfirms within locations. As migrants select into high-productivity destinations,migration however strongly contributes to the equalization of factorproductivity across locations.
Time:April 19,2019(Friday),9:30-11:00
Venue: Shahe Main TeachingBuilding, room 406