Zhu, NongLuo, Xubei2012-05-292012-05-292008-05https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6597Large numbers of agricultural labor moved from the countryside to cities after the economic reforms in China. Migration and remittances play an important role in transforming the structure of rural household income. This paper examines the impact of rural-to-urban migration on rural poverty and inequality in the case of Hubei province using the data of a 2002 household survey. Since remittances are a potential substitute for farm income, the paper presents counterfactual scenarios of what rural income, poverty, and inequality would have been in the absence of migration. The results show that, by providing alternatives to households with lower marginal labor productivity in agriculture, migration leads to an increase in rural income. In contrast to many studies that suggest the increasing share of non-farm income in total income widens inequality, this paper offers support for the hypothesis that migration tends to have egalitarian effects on rural income for three reasons: (i) migration is rational self-selection - farmers with higher agricultural productivities choose to remain in local agricultural production while those with higher expected return in urban non-farm sectors migrate; (ii) poorer households facing binding constraints of land shortage are more likely to migrate; and (iii) the poorest poor benefit disproportionately from remittances.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO CREDITACCESS TO JOBSACCESSIBILITYAGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIESAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSAGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENTAGRICULTURAL MODERNIZATIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY GROWTHAGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIESAGRICULTURAL WAGEALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENTASSET ACCUMULATIONAVERAGE INCOMEBANK LOANBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC NEEDSBRAIN DRAINBULLETINCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCHANGING INCOME DISTRIBUTIONCOLLECTIVE LANDCOMMERCIAL FARMINGCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOUNTERFACTUALCREDIT MARKETCULTURAL CHANGEDECOMPOSABLE POVERTY MEASURESDECOMPOSITION ANALYSISDEPENDANTSDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDIFFERENCES IN INCOMEDIVERSIFICATIONEARNINGSECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC REFORMECONOMIC REFORMSECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC STATUSEDUCATION LEVELEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL FINDINGSEMPIRICAL LITERATUREEMPIRICAL RESULTSEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESENDOGENOUS VARIABLEENDOWMENTSENTRY BARRIERSEQUALIZING IMPACTEXPENDITUREEXPLAINING INEQUALITYFAMILIESFAMILY MEMBERSFARM ACTIVITIESFARM ACTIVITYFARM EMPLOYMENTFARM INCOMEFARM INCOME GROWTHFARM INCOMESFARM PRODUCTIONFARM PRODUCTIVITYFARM SECTORFARM SIZEFARMERFARMERSFINANCIAL CONSTRAINTSFOOD POLICYFOOD SECURITYGENDERGINI COEFFICIENTGRAIN PRODUCTIONGROWTH RATEHIGHER EDUCATION LEVELHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEHOUSEHOLD ASSETSHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOMEHOUSEHOLD POVERTYHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOME DISPARITIESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME EQUATIONINCOME FLUCTUATIONSINCOME GAINSINCOME GAPINCOME INCREASEINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELINCOME SHAREINCOME SOURCEINCREASE INCOME INEQUALITYINCREASING SHAREINDUSTRIALIZATIONINEQUALITIESINEQUALITYINEQUALITY MEASURESINSURANCEINSURANCE MARKETINTERNAL MIGRATIONINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL MIGRANTINTERNATIONAL MIGRATIONJOB OPPORTUNITIESLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLABOR MOBILITYLABOR PRODUCTIVITYLAND MARKETLAND QUALITYLAND SHORTAGELAND TENURELEVELS OF INCOME INEQUALITYLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL DEVELOPMENTLOW INCOMEMEDIAN INCOMEMIGRANTMIGRANT REMITTANCESMIGRANT WORKERSMIGRANTSMIGRATIONMODERNIZATIONNATURAL RESOURCESNEGATIVE SHOCKSNONFARM INCOMENORMAL DISTRIBUTIONNUMBER OF CHILDRENNUMBER OF WORKERSOPPORTUNITY COSTPHYSICAL CAPITALPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY OPTIONSPOLICY REFORMSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLICY REVIEWPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR AREASPOOR GROWTHPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR RURAL AREASPOOR RURAL HOUSEHOLDSPOPULATION RESEARCHPOSITIVE EFFECTPOVERTY DATAPOVERTY HEADCOUNTPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY INDICESPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY SEVERITYPRIVATE TRANSFERSPROFITABILITYPROGRESSPUBLIC FACILITIESRATE OF GROWTHREAL INCOMEREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGIONAL INEQUALITYREMITTANCEREMITTANCESREMITTANCES FROM MIGRANTSRURALRURAL ACTIVITIESRURAL AREARURAL AREASRURAL ASSETRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL ECONOMYRURAL EMPLOYMENTRURAL FARMRURAL HOUSEHOLDRURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOMERURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL INCOMERURAL INEQUALITYRURAL LABORRURAL MARKETRURAL POORRURAL POOR HOUSEHOLDSRURAL POVERTYRURAL PRODUCTIONRURAL SECTORRURAL WORKERSSAVINGSSKILLED LABORSMALL BUSINESSESSOURCE OF INCOMESOURCES OF INCOMESPATIAL MOBILITYSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTRANSPORTATIONURBAN AREASURBAN CENTERSURBAN INFRASTRUCTUREURBAN MIGRATIONVICIOUS CYCLEVILLAGEVILLAGESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4637