Household Registration, Economic Reform and Migration

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Abstract
This article examines the relationship between the type of household registration and the type of and reasons for migration in China. The results suggest agricultural registration is clearly a deterrent to permanent migration, but it makes no difference with respect to temporary migration. Permanent migrants with agricultural registration predominantly move for noneconomic reasons, but those with nonagricultural registration are more likely motivated by economic reasons. The pattern is reversed in temporary migration. A key to understanding individual migration behavior is to understand household registration and its function as the intermediary through which the government exercises its control over migration. But what accounts for the new patterns of spatial mobility are the changing market conditions associated with economic reforms.

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