The Impact of Removing Selective Migration Restrictions on Education

An open question in migration research is how the removal of selective migration restrictions affects migrants’ education decisions. I analyze this question in the Chinese context, in which the household registration system imposes selective rural–urban migration restrictions. The identification derives from a policy change that grants urban residency to a group of rural individuals based on their dates of birth. Using a regression discontinuity approach, I find that educational attainments for barely eligible rural residents decreased sharply after the reform. These effects are larger for males and for those able to permanently migrate to relatively rich areas.