Hometown attachment or urban dependence? The reciprocal effects between multi-dimensional relative poverty of migrant workers and urban-rural land dependence

Abstract

China has alleviated absolute poverty, and poverty alleviation in the future will be maintained through the governance of relative poverty (RP). This study focuses on the RP governance of migrant workers in China, deconstructs the reciprocal influence mechanism between urban–rural land dependence (URLD) and RP, and constructs an econometric model to investigate the reciprocal influence relationship. First, the results show that the incidence of RP based on high-level needs remains high, to which policymakers must pay considerable attention. Second, the rural land dependence (RLD) level is higher than the urban land dependence (ULD) level, and there is heterogeneity in the URLD level of different types of migrant workers. Third, RLD and RP have a positive reciprocal effect, demonstrating the cycle of “the stronger the village attachment, the poorer; the poorer, the stronger the village attachment.” Finally, RP has a reciprocal effect on ULD; however, the cyclic mechanism of “the higher the urban attachment, the richer; the richer, the higher the urban attachment” does not establish. This is probably because the consumption crowding-out effect brought about by improving the urban housing level is stronger than the spiritual attachment effect. This study provides a reference for optimising migrant workers’ land factor allocation and promoting RP eradication.