Impact of Regional Economy on Internal Migration in Yangtze Delta: Based on Panel Data

Abstract

Abstract Metropolitan Shanghai, in Yangtze River Delta (YRD), plays undoubtedly the leading role in the economic development in China, and becomes one of the most important population congregation areas. It is also widely regarded as the sixth uprising urban agglomeration in the world. Based on the quantitative studies on basic socioeconomic and demographic profile on the number and transition of population, this paper concluded that the migration is the key factor for population dynamics in YRD. Then, what are the regional economic factors affecting the migration of different cities in YRD? The panel data show that the different wage level is the most important factor that affects the immigration in YRD. Moreover, the ratio of industry sector and service sector has an impact on attracting immigration. However, per-capital GDP and the share of foreign direct investment (FDI) to GDP have dual-side impact: not high per-capital GDP and FDI bring the high immigration.