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  3. American Economic Review
  4. June 2022
  5. Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China

Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China

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Abstract

How does rural-urban migration shape urban production in developing countries? We use longitudinal data on Chinese manufacturing firms between 2000 and 2006, and exploit exogenous variation in rural-urban migration induced by agricultural income shocks for identification. We find that, when immigration increases, manufacturing production becomes more labor intensive and productivity declines. We investigate the reorganization of production using patent applications and product information. We show that rural-urban migration induces both labor-oriented technological change and the adoption of labor intensive product varieties.

Citation

Imbert, Clement, Marlon Seror, Yifan Zhang, and Yanos Zylberberg. 2022. "Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China." American Economic Review, 112 (6): 1885-1914. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191234

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D24 Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
  • L23 Organization of Production
  • L60 Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General
  • O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
  • P25 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
  • P31 Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics