The new economic policy and permanent migration in Zhejiang Province, China

"This article examines the impact of economic reforms on the volume and characteristics of permanent migration in Zhejiang Province, China. The data suggest that the new economic policy induced a surge in permanent migration during the post-reform years. Such positive impact of the reform on permanent migration has started to fade away in 1985, as government relaxed its control over residence. Moreover, market mechanisms started playing a more important role in employment, exchange, and consumption. The data also suggest that the new economic policy has particularly favored the better educated, and thereby increased educational differentials between permanent migrants and nonmigrants. For all other characteristics examined, the results show consistently that post-reform migrants are less differentiated from nonmigrants than their pre-reform counterparts." An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America.