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This article uses data from the China Urban Labour Survey administered across 12 cities in 2005 to estimate the economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin among internal migrants in China's urban labour market. The article builds on studies that estimate the economic returns to international immigrants of being fluent in the major language of the destination country and studies that estimate the economic returns to proficiency in the national language among groups of people who speak a minority language. Importantly, we control for potential endogeneity bias in the estimates of the effect of language fluency on earnings. We find that for migrants as a whole, there are considerable economic returns to speaking standard Mandarin. We also find gender differences. While the coefficient on fluency in standard Mandarin is statistically significant and large for females, the coefficient on fluency is statistically insignificant for males. One possible explanation for this finding is that female migrant workers are engaged more in occupations which have greater contact with urban locals and hence the return to investment in language skills is higher. (Contains 5 tables.)

This paper examines, how individual preferences for redistribution in general and redistribution to improve access to education, improve social protection for the poor, reduce income inequality and reduce unemployment depend on beliefs about what determines one's lot in life and self-assessed prospects for climbing the social ladder in urban China. We find that beliefs about what determine one's lot in life and subjective perceptions of future mobility are correlated with preferences for redistribution. We find that those who believe one's lot in life is outside their control are generally more likely to favour redistribution. We show that this result is consistent with the existence of an altruism effect among the rich and entitlement effect among the poor. These findings are robust to the inclusion of control variables for the respondent's personal characteristics and the location in which he or she lives.

This article reports the findings of a survey administering the personal well-being index (PWI) in six Chinese cities (N = 3,390) to ascertain the personal well-being of China's urban population. The specific aims of the study were: (a) ascertain whether Chinese urban residents are satisfied with their lives; (b) validate the PWI using an urban sample that is representative of the urban population and larger in size than that which has been utilized in existing studies for Mainland China; (c) compare the results to existing studies for Hong Kong, Macau, rural China and single city studies which have administered the PWI in Guangdong and Shandong; (d) examine whether the responses to the PWI from participants falls within the narrow range predicted by the "Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis" and provide further evidence on whether this framework is applicable to Chinese samples; and (e) examine which participant characteristics predict personal well-being, examine whether own income and/or relative income predicts personal well-being and compare these results with previous studies for China and other countries. The data indicated a moderate level of personal well-being (PWI score = 67.1). The PWI demonstrated good psychometric properties in terms of its reliability and validity, consistent with previous published studies. The PWI was within the normative range for non-western countries and was within the narrow band predicted by the "Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis". Similar variables were found to predict personal well-being to those found in previous studies for China and elsewhere.

This paper employs cointegration and error-correction modelling to test the causal relationship between real income, real investment and tertiary education using data for the People's Republic of China over the period 1952-1999. To proxy tertiary education we use higher education enrolments and higher education graduates in alternative empirical specifications. One of the paper's main findings is that real income, real investment and tertiary education are cointegrated when real investment is the dependent variable, but are not cointegrated when either tertiary education or real income is the dependent variable. We also extend the in-sample analysis to examine the decomposition of variance and impulse response functions. (Contains 2 notes.)

This paper constructs long-run estimates of total missing women (including missing girls at birth and excess female deaths) in China and India over seven decades from 1950 to 2020. We find that the number of missing women in India has been higher than in China throughout the seven decades. Over time, missing girls at birth grew faster in China than in India, but China has made more rapid progress in reducing excess female deaths after birth. While the share of missing girls at birth in total missing women has risen since the 1980s, there has also been a shift in excess female mortality from younger to older age groups. Our estimated trends are consistent with key economic, social, demographic and technological events and developments in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies, this study provides insights on comparative wellbeing outcomes for older people who are institutionally segregated into clusters that produce uneven social capital. We present the first study that examines how institutionalized social capital inequality, measured by the social capital gap generated by hukou (household registration) status in China, affects the wellbeing of older people. Our results show that high levels of social capital inequality are associated with lower subjective wellbeing, measured by life satisfaction. This general conclusion is robust to a number of sensitivity checks including alternative ways of measuring subjective wellbeing and inequality. We also find that the negative relationship between social capital inequality and subjective wellbeing is strongest for people with a non-urban hukou living in urban areas. Our findings highlight the need for policies aimed at narrowing the social capital gap and the dismantling of institutional structures that hinder upward social capital mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examine the effects of education on the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. • We find education has a positive effect on the probability of being an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis an employee and of being an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis a solo entrepreneur. • We examine the mechanisms through which education affects the propensity for entrepreneurship. We utilize the implementation of the 1986 Compulsory Education Law in China as a natural experiment to examine the relationship between educational attainment and migrant entrepreneurship. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamics Survey, results from our preferred two-stage least square model, which uses instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimators to correct for endogeneity, suggest that having one additional year of education generates a 3.5 percentage points increase in the probability of being an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis an employee, and a 4.7 percentage points increase in the probability of being an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis a solo entrepreneur. Having better education, however, does not affect the propensity to become an entrepreneur in general vis-à-vis an employee or a solo entrepreneur vis-à-vis an employee. These results are robust to various checks including alternative estimation methods and ways of defining entrepreneurship. We also explore the channels through which educational attainment influences whether one chooses to become an employer entrepreneur. Our findings suggest that assortative mating, difficulties experienced in the host location, permanent settlement intention and social capital mediate the relationship between better education and the choice of both becoming an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis a solo entrepreneur and an employer entrepreneur vis-à-vis an employee, while risk preferences are a mechanism through which education affects the probability of becoming an employer entrepreneur as opposed to a solo entrepreneur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how fiscal decentralisation and progress towards the development of a knowledge-intensive economy has affected teachers’ wages in China, utilising panel data from 2001 to 2013. We find that fiscal decentralisation has a negative impact on teachers’ wages and that this effect is magnified through a deepening of the knowledge economy, while the knowledge economy itself has no effect on teachers’ wages. The findings suggest that incentives being offered to local administrators need to be revisited if China is convinced of the need to increase teacher quality in ways suited to the knowledge economy which it wishes to construct. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses topics within the issue including determinants of life satisfaction in China; heterogeneous effects of a range of explanatory factors on the distribution of subjective wellbeing in urban China; and wellbeing of rural to urban migrants.

The relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing and transition countries has been largely ignored. Drawing on endogenous ownership theory, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance in SMEs in China, which represents an embryonic market environment. Using survey data collected from 189 private firms in Shantou City, China, we find that ownership variables do not have a statistically significant relationship with firm performance. We examine the determinants of changing ownership shares and find that firm size and business instability are related to changes in ownership shares. Our findings provide empirical support for the central tenets of endogenous ownership theory. As such, the results can be interpreted as meaning that even in a developing market environment, such as China, market forces are strong enough to dominate ownership structure change or that the market mechanism is functioning well in some areas of emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in urban labour markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for migrant workers – we examine the relationship between wages and occupational risks, and estimate the risk premium for health hazards. The results show that having risky jobs, especially those associated with dust, has a significant negative effect on hourly wages. The negative risk premium accounts for approximately 10% of all workers' hourly wage in safe jobs using the national dataset and 1.8% of migrant workers' hourly wage in safe jobs in the Pearl River Delta. With the national data, males, migrant workers and manual workers incur a wage penalty for exposure to dust, chemical substances, biological hazards and other health hazards. Only urban locals earn a significantly positive wage premium for exposure to chemical substances. We offer several explanations for the negative wage premium in the context of China's urban labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we examine the determinants of public support for foreign aid in China. We find that while political ideology and sense of national identity are the most important determinants of support for foreign aid, several demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and income, are also important. We also find that those living in the lower income western provinces and in provinces with higher poverty rates express less support for giving foreign aid. We draw policy implications from the findings for better targeting engagement strategies designed to garner support for foreign aid. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the effect of the expansion in education that occurred in the first decade of the twenty-first century on the returns to schooling in urban China for migrants and non-migrants using three waves of the China Urban Labor Survey (CULS), corresponding to 2001, 2005 and 2010. Our main finding is that the premium to education increased by about 2%–3% over a period in which there was a rapid increase in education levels. This result is consistent with the demand for skilled labor increasing at a time when China tries to move up the value-added chain and an observed increase in urban wage inequality. We find that the education premium is higher for non-migrants than migrants and higher for males than females. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examine the relationship between sexual activities and happiness using a sample of 3800 adults from China. We provide some results about the relationship between sexual activities and happiness for an important country other than the United States. We find that those who have more sex and better quality sex, proxied by emotional and physical satisfaction with one's primary sex partner, are happier. We find that the happiness maximizing number of sexual partners is one and that engaging in extramarital sex is negatively related to happiness. A third important finding is that having unwanted sex is associated with lower happiness for both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effect of having a labour contract on a range of employee outcomes (wages, hours worked, social insurance coverage and subjective well-being) for a sample of urban and migrant workers in China using data from the Rural-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) project. Using different methods, we find that the Labour Contract Law has larger effects for urban workers than for migrant workers on receipt of social benefits, subjective well-being and wages, but not for hours worked. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates determinants of happiness and job satisfaction of urban locals, first-generation migrants and new-generation migrants in China’s urban workforce. We present evidence to suggest that new-generation migrants are less satisfied with their jobs and lives than first-generation migrants, despite having higher income. This finding is consistent with aspirations rising faster than income in China’s fast-growing urban economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use cross-sectional data collected from six cities in China to examine the relationship between subjective wellbeing and male and female earnings and also to consider the contribution of differences in subjective wellbeing to explaining the gender wage gap. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses survey data for 3,390 respondents working in a variety of blue collar and white collar jobs across a range of sectors including government, heavy and light manufacturing, mining and services in six Chinese cities: Chengdu, Dalian, Fushun, Fuxin, Fuzhou and Wuhan. The authors employ the ordinary least squares, Lewbel instrumental variable and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to econometrically analyze the relationship between subjective wellbeing and gender wage gap. Findings – The paper finds that the relationship between subjective wellbeing and wages is stronger for males than females. The authors note that 0.2 percent of the observed gender wage gap can be attributed to differences in mean subjective wellbeing in favor of females, while 53.5 percent can be ascribed to gender differences in returns to subjective wellbeing in favor of males. The paper also finds evidence that the relationship between subjective wellbeing and income is non-linear and that income peaks at higher levels of subjective wellbeing for men than women. Originality/value – The paper extends the existing literature in three important ways. First, the authors use a novel identification strategy, proposed by Lewbel (2012); second it uses a better measure for subjective wellbeing and third, it examine the role of differences in subjective wellbeing in explaining the gender wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between research and development (R&D) intensity and wages is examined using a unique matched employer-employee dataset. The ordinary least squares estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in R&D intensity is associated with an increase in the hourly wage rate between 3.4% and 6.9% for the full sample, depending on the exact specification. The instrumental variable estimates are that a one standard deviation increase in R&D intensity is associated with an increase in the hourly wage rate between 5.5% and 11.4%. The wage elasticity with respect to R&D intensity is found to be higher in larger firms as well as for better educated workers and workers with technical skills. Consistent with the rent-sharing hypothesis it is also found that the wage elasticity with respect to R&D intensity is higher for workers who belong to the Communist Party or union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explore the factors that are correlated with hours worked in China. A distinguishing feature of the study is that we used representative-matched employer and employee data. Hence, in addition to the usual worker characteristics examined in conventional economic models of labour supply, we also took into account the influence of firm characteristics and policies on the number of hours worked. The results suggested that in addition to the hourly wage rate, labour supply characteristics and human capital characteristics of the individual, firm-level differences are important in explaining variation in weekly hours worked in Chinese firms. In particular, our results suggested that there is a norm of longer working hours in firms that employ a high proportion of female and migrant workers, that hours worked are less in firms which pay overtime and that hours worked are less in firms in which labour disputes have disrupted production. The policy implications of Chinese firms reducing hours worked were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we examine the extent to which firms pass back the cost of pollution regulation to workers, in the form of lower wages, using a unique matched employer-employee dataset for Shanghai. The benefits and costs of pollution regulation in China are important topics to study as China comes under increasing pressure to move from a single-minded focus on energy-driven economic growth to a more balanced approach to economic growth. The benefits of such a shift, particularly in terms of health, are relatively well studied, but the costs are less so. The hip-pocket effect of pollution regulation on workers' wages is particularly important, given that it is likely to influence public support for a more balanced approach. Our main finding is that the reduction in average wages attributable to firms taking measures to control for pollution is between 13.8% and 18.8%, all things being equal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates personal wellbeing among a sample of ethnic Koreans in China's Northeast using the eight-item Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). The PWI demonstrated good psychometric properties, consistent with previous studies. The data revealed a moderate level of personal wellbeing (PWI score = 70.3) and the results supported the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis, suggesting that strong external and internal buffers protect the HPM for ethnic Koreans, despite the onslaught of marketisation and urbanisation in China that are threatening to undermine Koreans' sense of ethnic identity. The predictors of personal wellbeing were found to be age (with a nonlinear relationship), education, gender, income, marital status and the city in which the individual lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is the first to test Allport's (1954) contact hypothesis from the perspective of a minority group in China. Employing a sample of off-farm migrant workers in urban China, results indicate a positive effect on self-reported attitudes of intergroup friendship contact between migrant and local workers; and positive effects on self-reported behavioral interaction between migrants and urban locals of both intergroup friendship and intergroup nonfriendship contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing survey data from 32 selected cities across China in 2003, this article examines parents’ expenditure on their children's education from two aspects: factors affecting domestic education expenditure and factors affecting expenditure on overseas education. The main findings that emerge from this study are as follows. First, household income has significant effects on the magnitude of the domestic and overseas educational expenditures. Second, households where mothers have senior secondary school or college education, and fathers are working in professional occupations are likely to spend more on education for their children. Third, being in the highest income category, having a college-educated father, having a mother who is a cadre or middle professional and living in a coastal area significantly enhances the probabilities for the households sending their children overseas for education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A general method to construct parametric Lorenz models of the weighted-product form is offered in this paper. Initially, a general result to describe the conditions for the weighted-product model to be a Lorenz curve, created by using several component parametric Lorenz models, is given. We show that the key property for an ideal component model is that the ratio between its second derivative and its first derivative is increasing. Then, a set of Lorenz models, consisting of a basic group of models, along with their convex combinations, is proposed, and it is shown that any model in the set possesses this key property. We introduce the concept of balanced fit, which provides a means of assigning weights, according to the preferences of the practitioner, to two alternative objectives for developing Lorenz curves in practice. These objectives are generating an acceptable Lorenz curve and improving the accuracy of the density estimation. We apply the balanced fit approach to income survey data from China to illustrate the performance of our models. We first show that our models outperform other popular traditional Lorenz models in the literature. Second, we compare the results generated by the balanced fit approach applied to one of the Lorenz models that we develop with those generated by the kernel method to show that the approach proposed in the paper generates plausible density estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationship between atmospheric and water pollution, traffic congestion, access to parkland and personal well-being using a survey administered across six Chinese cities in 2007. In contrast to existing studies of well-being determinants by economists which typically employ single-item indicators, we use the Personal Well-being Index (PWI). We also employ the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) to measure job satisfaction, which is one of the variables for which we control when examining the relationship between environmental surroundings and personal well-being. Previous research by psychologists has shown the PWI and JSS to have good psychometric properties in western and Chinese samples. A robust finding is that in cities with higher levels of atmospheric pollution and traffic congestion, respondents report lower levels of personal well-being ceteris paribus. Specifically, we find that a one standard deviation increase in suspended particles or sulphur dioxide emissions is roughly equivalent to a 12-13% reduction in average monthly income in the six cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rural-urban migrants have been the engine room that has driven China's high rate of economic growth; however, their living and working conditions are poor. This paper addresses the question: What keeps China's migrant workers going? We seek to answer this question through examining the determinants of the happiness of China's rural-urban migrants, drawing on a large-scale survey administered across 12 cities in 2005. We find that expectations as to future income are important determinants of happiness. This suggests that many migrants expect their financial position and, by extension, their lives more generally to get better in the future and that this is having a positive effect on their current levels of happiness. The effect of optimistic expectations outstrips any realistic increase in their own income. We find that for those who expect a big increase in income over the next five years, this translates to an increase of 380% in average monthly income and for those who expect a small increase in income over the next five years, this translates to an increase of 200% in average monthly income to obtain an equivalent increase in happiness compared with those who expect no change in income. This finding has important implications for economic growth and socio-economic stability in China, given that maintaining socio-economic stability is important to maintain China's high rate of economic growth and positive expectations about future income are important for maintaining socio-economic stability during times of economic transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the moderating effect of job complexity and social status, proxied by a unique Chinese cultural variable (hukou status), on the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being in urban China. Data on these and a range of demographic variables were collected from 1025 workers in Fujian Province in the People's Republic of China. Results confirm that hukou status does moderate the job satisfaction-subjective well-being relationship in this sample. Several further moderating relationships are also detected. The study adds the empirical literature on job satisfaction and subjective well-being in China and also furthers understanding of the complex relationship between these constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that larger firms in China actually pay lower wages. The most plausible explanation for this result is that larger firms in China employ a higher ratio of blue-collar workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China’s steel sector is the largest in the world and has been a major driving force behind China’s high rate of economic growth. This sector, however, is also a major consumer of energy and, in particular, coal. As a result, the iron and steel sector in China is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. In this article we examine the potential for inter-factor substitution between capital, energy and labor in the Chinese steel sector and find that capital and energy and energy and labor are substitutes. This result suggests that removal of price ceilings on energy would tend to reduce energy use and increase capital intensiveness. While the potential for substitution between energy and labor is less than that between energy and capital, the elasticity of substitution between energy and labor is high compared with previous findings for other countries. This fact suggests that there may be potential for substituting labor for energy, given China’s abundance of labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates subjective well-being among a sample of Beijing taxi drivers in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). The specific aims of this study are (a) investigate the psychometric properties of the PWI in this unique population; (b) ascertain whether Beijing taxi drivers are satisfied with their lives; and (c) examine whether the responses to the PWI from participants falls within the narrow range predicted by the 'Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis'. The PWI demonstrated good psychometric properties and was consistent with previous studies for Western and non-Western samples. The data revealed a moderate level of subjective well-being (PWI score = 61.1). While Beijing taxi drivers work long hours for low wages, the PWI was nonetheless within the normative range predicted for Chinese societies by the 'Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis'. The results suggest that the homeostatic mechanism is fairly resilient, even when the individual leads relatively a hard life based on objective indicators. Specifically, for Beijing taxi drivers, it appears that external, buffers such as personal relationships and feeling part of the community, act to assist the homeostatic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research applying the personal wellbeing index (PWI) in China is restricted to urban and rural samples. There are no studies for Chinese off-farm migrants. The specific aims of this study are: (a) ascertain whether Chinese off-farm are satisfied with their lives; (b) investigate the equivalence of the PWI in terms of its psychometric properties; and (c) examine whether the responses to the PWI from participants falls within the normative range predicted by the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. The PWI demonstrated good psychometric performance in terms of its reliability and validity and was consistent with previous studies for Western and non-Western samples. The data revealed a moderate level of subjective well-being (PWI score = 62.6). While Chinese off-farm migrants lead hard lives, the PWI was within the normative range predicted for Chinese societies by the Theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. A likely explanation for this finding rests with the circular nature of migration in China. When China’s off-farm migrants find it too difficult to cope in the cities, most have the fallback position that they can return to their homes in the countryside. This option provides an external buffer to minimize the inherent challenges of life which would otherwise impinge on the life satisfaction of China’s off-farm migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large household survey administered across 30 cities in September 2003, we examine the relationship between the degree of economic openness, measured as the sum of imports and exports as a share of GDP, and subjective well-being in urban China. We find that respondents who live in cities with high levels of economic openness report significantly lower levels of subjective well-being ceteris paribus. We offer four explanations for this result; namely, inadequate social protection in the face of globalization, unfulfilled expectations, political dissatisfaction and anomie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the returns to height using data from 12 Chinese cities. We present both ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage least squares (TSLS) estimates. In the latter height is instrumented using proxies for health human capital, accumulated in childhood and adolescence, which influence adult height. The TSLS estimates are much higher, reflecting the fact that the OLS estimates are determined by the random genetic factors influencing height, while the TSLS estimates also take into account returns from investment in health human capital during childhood and adolescence. These results imply considerable returns to investment in health human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors predicting which employees receive employer-funded commercial pension insurance contributions in Shanghai's zhenbao (town insurance) program, introduced by the Shanghai Government in 2003. Design/methodology/approach -- A series of hypotheses are developed to examine whether employees with characteristics that make them more influential constituencies will be more likely to receive voluntary commercial pension insurance contributions. The hypotheses are tested through application of a ReLogit model to data on 103,095 employees enrolled in the town insurance scheme in one district as at the end of 2004. Findings -- The study finds that only a small proportion of individuals in the sample receive commercial pension insurance. The most important determinant of whether an employee received commercial pension insurance is his or her level of education. Research limitations/implications -- The study provides support for the societal corporatist perspective that employers who place a premium on human capital and invest significant resources in the skills of their workers will favor social policies that target benefits to a selected group of workers to reward their performance and foster commitment. A limitation of the research is that it is based on data collected soon after the town insurance scheme was introduced. The low level of employee coverage may improve once employers become more familiar with the operation of the scheme. Practical implications -- Employers should consider social insurance as a labor market strategy to retain staff and enhance the human resource base of the firm. Originality/value -- Little attention has been given to the role of employer-funded social insurance within the ambit of labor market strategies designed to enhance the human resource base of the organisation. This is the first study to use micro level data to examine the determinants of voluntary employer contributions to social insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A more complete credit-reporting system has to evolve in China in order to better manage risk and reduce the amount of nonperforming loans. The rationale for having a credit-reporting system is outlined through a review of the literature on asymmetric information. A case study of a private credit-reporting agency, established in 2000, is studied. This was the first one in Chengdu and one of the earliest in China. In addition, there is a discussion of the progress the People's Bank of China has made in establishing a unified national credit-reporting system since 2004. China has made much progress in this sphere and at present operates the largest credit-reporting database in the world. There is, however, still plenty of scope for improvement, including better cooperation between public and private credit-reporting services, with a view to providing a more streamlined product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of own income versus reference group income and the subjective factors considered important in a job for a sample of off-farm migrants in China. We find that own income has a positive effect on job satisfaction while the effect of reference group income is gender specific. We find evidence that males experience a tunnelling effect (higher income co-workers increase their job satisfaction) while females experience a jealousy effect (higher income co-workers lower their job satisfaction). We explain this result in terms of men reacting more positively in competitive environments and that, in China, males have better prospects for promotion. We find that compared with employees in western countries, off-farm migrants in China place much more emphasis on income and less importance on collegiality and job stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the determinants of turnover intentions of off farm migrant workers, using data collected from China’s Jiangsu Province. Turnover intention is posited to be a function of demographic/human capital characteristics, job characteristics and job satisfaction. We find that higher levels of education have a positive effect on reported turnover intentions, while higher income and job satisfaction have a negative effect on turnover intentions. To the extent turnover intentions represent a good proxy for actual turnover, the results can be viewed as providing reliable predictors of job mobility among off farm migrant workers at a time when there is a growing shortage of such workers in China’s coastal provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, the Shanghai Bureau of Labour and Social Security launched the zhenbao (town insurance) programme, now widely known as 25 plus X. This scheme is regarded as an important experiment in social security reform and has been lauded for extending social security to areas where previously only segments of the population had mandatory coverage. Using data from 103,000 individuals enrolled in 25 plus X, we examine the extent to which the scheme represents an extension in social security coverage. Our analysis suggests that while it does represent an extension of benefits for some, for many it represents a considerable dilution in benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We examine the relationship between atmospheric pollution, measured as sulphur dioxide emissions, environmental disasters, traffic congestion, access to parkland and well-being in urban China, using a large survey administered across 30 cities in 2003. We find that in cities with high levels of atmospheric pollution, environmental disasters and traffic congestion Chinese citizens report significantly lower levels of well-being ceteris paribus while in cities with greater access to parkland Chinese citizens report significantly higher levels of well-being ceteris paribus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reforms to China's education sector over the last two decades have sought to diversify the sources of funding education. This paper examines the consequences of these reforms for Chinese families and regional disparities in access to education. To illustrate the implications of education reforms for Chinese families, we draw on a large survey of urban residents across 32 Chinese cities as well as a case study of fees charged by a single secondary school in Chengdu. We argue that while China has made progress in moving towards the United Nations objective of 'Education for All', decentralization of China's education funding has impeded access to schooling for many, particularly those living in financially disadvantaged locales, and placed an undue financial burden on many ordinary Chinese households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines job satisfaction and incentive structures among China''s urban workforce. The main determinants of job satisfaction are found to be age, education, occupation and personal income. The criteria that Chinese urban employees considered most important when choosing a job were job stability, a high income and professional development. Employees who considered job stability, high income, professional development opportunities, work/life balance and provision of social insurance as being important when selecting a job were more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article measures education inequality between the coastal and inland provinces and compares it with rural–urban educational inequality in China, using Gini education coefficients and decomposition analysis. The main finding of the article is that disparities in access to education between rural and urban areas rather than between coastal and inland provinces are the major cause of educational inequality in China. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines why firms in Shanghai comply or over-comply with social insurance obligations in a regulatory environment where the expected punishment for non-compliance is low. Our first finding is that firms found to be in non-compliance in the first audit in 2001 were moved into a separate violation category and the probability of being reaudited in 2002 was significantly higher if the firm was in that category. Our second main result is that, across the board, firms which were reaudited continued to underpay in 2002 but the extent of underpayment was significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001 China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. By so doing the national government became legally bound, “to the maximum of its available resources”, to achieve “progressively” full realization of the rights specified in the Covenant. Included amongst these entitlements is the “right of everyone to social security, including social insurance”. This paper uses data from Jiangsu to examine the extent to which urbanites agree that previously disenfranchised migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population. Many urbanites fear that their existing entitlements to social protection will be diluted if social insurance coverage is extended to include new populations. Accordingly, state agencies and the media have sought to promote acceptance of a more positive view of migrant workers than has traditionally prevailed within towns and cities. We find that younger urban residents, urban residents who already have social insurance and urban residents working in the state-owned sector are more likely to agree that migrants have the same right to social insurance as the urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the developing world education is seen as a means of raising levels of everyday wellbeing and is being linked to improved measures of productivity and economic growth. This paper employs a household production function framework to examine the determinants of school attendance among migrant children using a unique dataset collected in China's Jiangsu province. The study finds that the main predictors of school attendance among migrant children in the sample were household income, mother's education, the length of residence of the child's mother in the city and whether both parents were working in the same city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the problem of unemployment among the floating population in China based on a survey administered by Jiangsu government. It concludes that unemployment is a function of age, education, gender, individual income level, registration status and unemployment insurance. Among the determinants of unemployment are the income level of an individual and registration status. The floating population rely on their savings to support themselves in terms of social support when unemployed.

This article examines the long-run and short-run relationship between China's real exchange rate, foreign exchange reserves and the real interest rate differential between China and the United States using monthly data from 1980 to 2002. Extensive testing for unit roots allowing for up to two structural breaks in the trend indicates that the variables are not integrated of the same order. Thus, the bounds testing approach to cointegration is used, which finds that there is a single long-run relationship between the three variables. In the long run the real exchange rate has a statistically significant positive effect on foreign exchange reserves. The coefficient on the real interest rate differential is also positive, but is statistically insignificant. In the short-run it is found that the relationship between the real exchange rate, real interest rate differential and foreign exchange reserves is non-monotonic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to extend understanding of employer responses to social protection regulations enacted by government to ensure the well-being and security of employees. By utilizing firm-specific data collected from Shanghai we explore the relationship between firm characteristics, employer behaviour, and the effectiveness of compliance mechanisms that have been adopted to contain contribution evasion by employers. We offer empirical evidence about the impact of the size of the firm, ownership structure, and incidence of risk on employer evasion behaviour in social protection payments. These results should enable enforcement agencies to improve compliance levels and also contribute to building theory as regards the significance of social policies to employers and the impact of social protection on human resource policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]