School of Economics, Hainan University, Haikou, PR China.
School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, PR China.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Jan 1;292(Pt A):118263. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118263. Epub 2021 Sep 30.
The willingness of migrating due to air pollution is widespread in China. However, there is a lack of direct evidence and discussion regarding whether this willingness has been translated into action. In this study, PM2.5 concentrations were used to represent air pollution in each city and were compared with individual migration data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) to examine population migration effects caused by air pollution. This study showed that (1) Population migration between Chinese cities shows sensitivity to air pollution, and air pollution increases the probability of moving away for local population. This finding is held under multiple robustness and endogeneity tests. (2) Population migration effects caused by air pollution were more pronounced among women, middle-aged people, those with lower educational levels, from agricultural households, Han Chinese groups, and populations in southern cities. (3) The use of individual self-rated health data verified that physical health is an important channel through which individual migration decisions are influenced by air pollution, the older an individual, the more his or her health was affected. In light of these findings, this study led to conclusions regarding targeted policy recommendations in terms of talent clustering, social equity, and demographic balance.
由于空气污染而迁移的意愿在中国很普遍。然而，对于这种意愿是否已经转化为行动，缺乏直接的证据和讨论。在这项研究中，我们使用 PM2.5 浓度来代表每个城市的空气污染，并将其与中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）的个人迁移数据进行比较，以检验空气污染对人口迁移的影响。研究结果表明：（1）中国城市间的人口迁移对空气污染具有敏感性，空气污染会增加当地居民迁移的概率。这一发现经过了多种稳健性和内生性检验。（2）空气污染对人口迁移的影响在女性、中年人群、受教育程度较低的人群、来自农业家庭的人群、汉族群体以及南方城市的人群中更为显著。（3）使用个体自我评估健康数据验证了身体健康是个体迁移决策受空气污染影响的一个重要渠道，个体年龄越大，健康受到的影响越大。根据这些发现，本研究得出了关于人才集聚、社会公平和人口平衡方面的有针对性的政策建议。
