A quantitative analysis of Hukou reform in Chinese cities: 2000–2016

Abstract

This paper documents the changes in China's Hukou reform before and after 2014 based on a unique data set of Hukou policy documents from Chinese cities between 2000 and 2016. We construct a Hukou registration index to measure the stringency of local Hukou qualification in Chinese cities. There are four main channels for migrants to get local urban Hukou: investment, home purchase, talent program, and employment. The requirements of the four channels have large variations across different tiers of cities between the two periods of 2000–2013 and 2014–2016. First‐tier and some second‐tier cities set high criteria for local Hukou registration that have become more stringent over time, while other cities have much lower requirements. The point account system for Hukou registration shows that cities have different preferences over workers eligible for local urban Hukou. The quantitative measures developed in this paper can be used to study a variety of topics on the social and economic consequences of labor mobility barriers.

Does household laborer migration promote farmland abandonment in China?

“…Similarly, for Chinese households that have acquired a farmland confirmation certificate, the right to use the farmland is clear. Since the introduction of Hukou system, older rural laborers have lower probability of acquiring urban hukou (Lu & Wu, 2020; Zhang, Wang, & Lu, 2019). When household migrant laborers are younger, they will prefer to abandon farmland.…”

Do rural migrants benefit from labor market agglomeration economies? Evidence from Chinese cities

“…Although our data are a bit old (newer population census data do not contain income information), we believe that our findings still reflect mainly the current urban labor market patterns in China. According to Zhang, Wang, and Lu (2019), which quantifies the stringency of hukou restriction in Chinese cities since 2000, China's hukou reform did not have a major jump until 2014. In addition, hukou qualifications are more restrictive in East region, capital cities in the Midwest region, and regional central cities where manufacturing industries are concentrated; these places, with more stringent hukou restrictions, are also the major destinations of rural migrants.…”

“…21 The only exception is that the coefficient of college share interacting with rural migrant dummy for high-skilled workers (Column 3 of Table 7) is marginally significant (at the 15% level). 22 Zhang et al (2019)…”

Does the Revised Hukou System Facilitate or Restrain the Short-Term Labor Inflows into Chinese Cities?

“…After national reform, Hukou reform can be divided into four or five stages [17,18]. Among them, the period before the State Council issued "Policies on the Reform of Household Registration System", in 2014, was the stage when some local governments represented by the Guangdong province promoted the Hukou reform.…”