Anti-corruption publicity and internal migrants in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study uses the conditional logit model to explore the impact of anti-corruption publicity on the probability of choosing a specific city among internal migrants in China. By leveraging China’s Corruption Investigations Dataset and China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we find that anti-corruption publicity significantly decreases the probability of migrants choosing the city. The effects are driven by the mechanism whereby anti-corruption publicity increases the individuals’ perceptions of corruption and reduces their trust in local government officials. The negative effects remain after the migrants move to the city. Exposure to anti-corruption publicity is associated with decreased settlement intention and social health insurance participation. Our findings strongly indicate the necessity for the government to reconsider its communication strategies concerning anti-corruption efforts.