Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China

Sylvie Démurger and Xiaoqian Wang
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Xiaoqian Wang: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This paper investigates how private transfers from internal migration in China affect the expenditure behaviour of families left behind in rural areas. Using data from the Rural-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) survey, we assess the impact of remittances sent to rural households on consumption-type and investment-type expenditures. We apply propensity score matching to account for the selection of households into receiving remittances, and estimate average treatment effects on the treated. We find that remittances supplement income in rural China and lead to increased consumption rather than increased investment. Moreover, we find evidence of a strong negative impact on education expenditures, which could be detrimental to sustaining investment in human capital in poor rural areas in China.

Keywords: remittances; labour migration; expenditure behaviour; left-behind; propensity score matching; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cna, nep-lma, nep-mig and nep-tra
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01251341v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China (2016)
Working Paper: Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China (2016)
Working Paper: Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China (2016)
Working Paper: Remittances and Expenditure Patterns of the Left Behinds in Rural China (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01251341

DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2015.12.002

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