Do Natural Amenities Still Matter? An Empirical Study on China’s Internal Migration

Xiuxiang Pan , University of Groningen
Sierdjan Koster, University of Groningen
Dimitris Ballas, University of Groningen

There is a significant amount of literature on the relative importance of natural and man-made amenities as well as social and economic factors in determining internal migration in a wide range of contexts. This paper focuses on the determinants of internal migration in China with a particular focus on natural amenities. Although the primary determinants of internal migration in China have also been researched extensively there is still a paucity of knowledge regarding the role of amenities in affecting internal migration. The views on the role of amenities are becoming more diverse along with the rising incomes, economic integration, falling costs of migration and the extension of modern media. Based on a dataset drawn from China’s census, China Statistical Yearbook by provinces and cities as well as some other reliable official resources, this paper apply the OLS regression model to reveal that natural amenity and economic factors both have a persistent impact on urban growth in China while the role of amenity shows distinctive strengthen over time. Moreover, the regional difference is also expected to be confirmed (i.e., the provinces with stronger economic performance are more impacted by amenities). Our conclusions imply that the role of amenities in internal migration is of high spatial-temporal heterogeneity, which calls for more attention to amenities in China’s local urban development strategy.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe