Skip to main content

Effect of Migration on Children’s Educational Performance in Rural China

  • Chapter
China’s Economic Development

Part of the book series: Palgrave Readers in Economics ((PRE))

Abstract

Migration is one of the main ways of alleviating poverty in developing countries, including China. However, there are concerns about the potential negative effects of migration on the educational achievement of the children that are left behind in villages when one or both of their parents out-migrate to cities. This paper examines changes in school performance before and after the parents of students out-migrate. Surprisingly, we find that there is no significant negative effect of migration on school performance. In fact, we find that educational performance improves in migrant households in which the father out-migrates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abadie, A and Imbens, GW. 2002: Simple and bias-corrected matching estimators. Technical report, Department of Economics, UC Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abadie, A and Imbens, GW. 2006: Large sample properties of matching estimators for average treatment effects. Econometrica 74: 235–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battistella, G and Conaco, MCG. 1998: The impact of labour migration on the children left behind: A study of elementary school children in the Philippines. Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 13: 220–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, D, Brandt, L and Giles, J. 2005: The evolution of income inequality in rural China. Economic Development and Cultural Change 53: 769–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, DM. 1999: The effect of income on child development. Review of Economics and Statistics 81: 261–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, PH and Park, A. 2002: Education and poverty in rural China. Economics of Education Review 21: 523–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caliendo, M and Kopeinig, S. 2008: Some practical guidance for the implementation of propensity score matching. Journal of Economic Surveys 22: 31–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox Edwards, A and Ureta, M. 2003: International migration, remittances, and schooling: Evidence from El Salvador. Journal of Development Economics 72: 429–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Brauw, A and Giles, J. 2007: Migrant labor markets and the welfare of rural households in the developing world: Evidence from China. Working paper, Michigan State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Brauw, A, Huang, J, Rozelle, S, Zhang, L and Zhang, Y. 2002: The evolution of China’s rural labor markets during the reforms. Journal of Comparative Economics 30: 329–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehejia, RH and Wahba, S. 1999: Causal effects in nonexperimental studies: Reevaluating the evaluation of training programs. Journal of the American Statistical Association 94: 1053–1062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehejia, RH and Wahba, S. 2002: Propensity score-matching methods for nonexperimental causal studies. Review of Economics and Statistics 84: 151–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du, Y, Park, A and Wang, S. 2005: Migration and rural poverty in China. Journal of Comparative Economics 33: 688–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, GJ, Brooks-Gunn, J and Klebanov, PK. 1994: Economic deprivation and early childhood development. Child Development 65: 296–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredriksson, P and Öckert, B. 2005: Is early learning really more productive? The effect of school starting age on school and labor market performance. IZA Discussion papers, 1659, Institute for the Study of Labor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giles, J. 2006: Is life more risky in the open? Household risk-coping and the opening of China’s labor markets. Journal of Development Economics 81: 25–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glewwe, P and Jacoby, HG. 2004: Economic growth and the demand for education: Is there a wealth effect? Journal of Development Economics 74: 33–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, GH and Woodruff, C. 2004: Emigration and educational attainment in Mexico. Working paper, University of California, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanushek, EA. 1992: The trade-off between child quantity and quality. The Journal of Political Economy 100: 84–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heckman, JJ. 2005: China’s human capital investment. China Economic Review 16: 50–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kandel, W and Kao, G. 2001: The impact of temporary labor migration on Mexican children’s educational aspirations and performance. International Migration Review 35: 1205–1231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, X. 2004: The investigation on the rural migrant children (in Chinese). Journal of Women Study in China 10: 35–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, D and Rapoport, H. 2006: Can migration reduce educational attainment? Evidence from Mexico. The World Bank Policy Research Working paper series no. 3952.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, D and Rapoport, H. 2007: Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: Theory and evidence from Mexico. Journal of Development Economics 84: 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Princiotta, D, Flanagan, KD and Hausken, EG. 2006: Fifth grade: Findings from the Fifth grade follow-up of the early childhood longitudinal study, Kindergarten class of 1998–99. National Center for Education Statistics No. 2006–2038.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum, PR and Rubin, DB. 1983: The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika 70: 41–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozelle, S, Guo, L, Shen, M, Hughart, A and Giles, J. 1999: Leaving China’s farms: Survey results of new paths and remaining hurdles to rural migration. The China Quarterly 158: 367–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J and Todd, P. 2005: Does matching overcome LaLonde’s critique of nonexperimental estimators? Journal of Econometrics 125: 305–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steelman, LC and Mercy, JA. 1980: Unconfounding the confluence model: A test of sibship size and birth-order effects on intelligence. American Sociological Review 45: 571–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, S and Wang, X. 2004: The study on the migrant children (in Chinese). Journal of Education in Hubei 20: 11–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todaro, MP. 1989: Economic Development in the Third World. Longman: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y and Wu, X. 2003: A case study of the migrant children (in Chinese). Investigation of the Youth 4: 7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, N. 2004: The problems on the rural migrant children (in Chinese). Unpublished Manuscript, China National Institute for Education Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, Q and Wu, H. 2004: A mother of 13 years old. XinhuaNet, May 26.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2014 Association for Comparative Economic Studies

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chen, X., Huang, Q., Rozelle, S., Shi, Y., Zhang, L. (2014). Effect of Migration on Children’s Educational Performance in Rural China. In: Brada, J.C., Wachtel, P., Yang, D.T. (eds) China’s Economic Development. Palgrave Readers in Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137469960_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics