Population and capital flows in metropolitan Beijing, China: Empirical evidence from the past 30 years

Abstract

This study is an empirical demonstration of David Harvey's critical analysis of the urban process based on the Marxist political economy in the context of Beijing, the capital of China. Using data from the Beijing Municipal Statistical Bureau (1978-2019) and the geographic information software package ArcGIS, we show that migrant workers in Beijing moved to the inner city during the 1990s, and since 2000, the population, while expanding, has been moving outward towards suburban areas. Furthermore, we find that during most of the studied period, the movement of the population, especially of migrant workers, was mainly driven by capital flows, while since 2015, such movement has increasingly been determined by population control policies enforced by local authorities. Finally, targeted measures are suggested for the government to safeguard the rights of migrants against the impact of capital under China's political system.