Air pollution and high human capital population migration: An empirical study based on 35 major cities in China

Abstract

Abstract People with high human capital play an important role in promoting the technological progress and economic development of a country. The purpose of this paper is to verify whether air pollution has a certain impact on the migration of high human capital, which is rarely studied in the literature. Based on the panel data of 35 developed cities of China from 2006 to 2016, this paper uses ordinary least square (OLS) method and two-stage least squares (2SLS) method to empirically analyze the impact of air pollution on the number of international students studying in Chinese universities. The results show that cities with severe air pollution would have significantly fewer international students. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis indicates that self-financed international students are more sensitive to air pollution than public-funded students. This research indicates that air pollution governance is crucial in introducing international talents towards a higher human capital goal.