Factors Influencing the Settlement Intentions of Chinese Migrants in Cities: An Analysis of Air Quality and Higher Income Opportunity as Predictors

Abstract

With rapid urbanization, the air pollution issue is becoming an increasingly serious issue given that people are strongly swayed in their location choice to settle down in a growing urban area where most job opportunities have been created. This study investigated the influences of both air quality and income on the settlement intentions of Chinese migrants by using microlevel samples of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data from 2017 and the annual average concentration of PM2.5 (particles with diameter ≤ 2.5 μm in the air) to measure a city’s air quality. The results showed that the settlement decisions of Chinese migrants involved a trade-off between income and air quality. Poorer air quality could significantly decrease the settlement intention, while a higher income could significantly increase the settlement intention of Chinese migrants. However, as the migrants’ income opportunity increased at a location, the negative influence of poorer air quality on the settlement intention at that location gradually declined. Specifically, when deciding whether to settle down in cities, the migrants with a non-agricultural “hukou” (household registration) tended to pay more attention to air quality than the migrants with an agricultural “hukou,” and migrants who moved farther away in geographic distance tended to pay more attention to income. It was concluded that the influences of air quality and income on the settlement intentions of the migrants were robust and consistent after using different estimation methods and considering the issue of endogeneity.

The Impact of Health and Wealth on Settlement Intention of Migrants: The Moderating Effect of Social Welfare

“…Second, we found that the migrants often faced a trade-off between economic advantages and air quality in their settlement intention. This result is same as previous studies ( 2 ). In varying degrees, the economic advantage of the inflow cities would offset the negative effect of air pollution on the migrants' settlement, and the effect differs among different populations.…”

“…First, this study verifies the differences in the settlement intention among migrants from different groups. The study finds that female, married, minority, high age, non-farm hukou, and migrants with a closer mobility range are more willing to settle in the inflow cities, which is the same as the results of previous studies ( 2 , 27 ).…”

“…Many scholars have paid attention to the determinants of the migrants' settlement intention ( 2 ). There have been many observations of the mechanisms driving migration in research, with the “push-pull” hypothesis being one of the best-known explanations ( 1 ).…”

“…Bo Li investigated the impact of air pollution and income on the intention to stay of the mobile population and found that there was some conflict between the two. Specifically, non-rural populations had a higher pursuit of air quality, while rural and more spatially distant migrant populations had a higher pursuit of income ( 2 ). Although this study analyzed the interaction between income and health, the study did not consider the role of urban economic advantage and did not include the influence of social welfare factors.…”

Impact of child’s migration on health status and health care utilization of older parents with chronic diseases left behind in China

“…Although the migration of adult child may have serious implications on health status and health care utilization of older parents left behind, the possible health effects on older parents with chronic diseases left behind in China are still unclear. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of adult child’s migration on health status and health care utilization of older parents with chronic diseases left behind in the context of the urbanization in China [ 28 ]. In-depth research on these issues will provide the government with the information needed for policy-making.…”