The Influence of Foreign Direct Investment on Physical Health of Rural-Urban Migrants—Empirical Evidence from China Migrants Dynamic Survey

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on rural-urban migrants’ physical health and its influencing mechanism. A total of 134,920 rural-urban migrant samples are matched based on the China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2017 and the China Urban Statistical Yearbook in 2016. On the basis of the samples, a Binary Probit Model is used to explore the relationship between the degree of FDI and rural-urban migrants’ physical health. The results show that compared with migrants who lived in cities with a lower FDI level, rural-urban migrants who lived in cities with a higher FDI level are better in physical health. The results of the mediation effect model show that the degree of FDI has a significant positive impact on employment rights and benefits the protection of rural-urban migrants, improving rural-urban migrants’ physical health, which means employment rights and benefits protection plays an intermediary role in the process of FDI affecting rural-urban migrants’ physical health. Therefore, when formulating public policies such as plans to improve the physical health of rural-urban migrants, not only the availability of medical services for rural-urban migrants needs to be improved, but the positive spillover effect of FDI should be taken into account. By doing so, FDI can positively affect the physical health of rural-urban migrants.