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.
Highlights
Rapid industrialization and urbanization are changing the urban landscape in emerging markets [1].One of the most profound changes affecting human society is the massive migration to cities to establish new livelihoods
The coefficient of the variable income was significantly positive at the level of 1%, which showed that the higher the incomes that the migrants earned from the city, the stronger the settlement intentions of the migrants
Using a microlevel sample from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey data from 2017 and the annual average concentration of PM2.5 to measure city air quality, this study investigated the influences of both air quality and income on the settlement intentions of Chinese migrants
Summary
One of the most profound changes affecting human society is the massive migration to cities to establish new livelihoods. This will eventually lead to the reconstruction of urban spaces and the integration of human lifestyles, both socially and economically. 49% since 2000, accounting for 3.4% of the total global population [2]. With the development of the global economy, most employees have gradually moved into regions with abundant economic activities and job opportunities. Large cities offer lucrative attractions regarding the settlement intention of migrants because of the superior economic and non-economic incentives, including social, medical, educational, and municipal infrastructures that city dwellers enjoy [3]
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