The Impact of Household Registration System on the Economic Role of Social Capital in China Labor Market Open Access

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of social capital in China's labor market in the background of Household registration System (Hukou System). By employing Urban Individual Income, Consumption, and Employment Data in CHIP (2002), I study the interacting effects between Hukou system and social capital. My results suggest that urban individuals with different hukou status, either the current status or the status at birth, have relatively same amount of social capital and social capital of the same quality. Nonetheless, rural migrant women take advantage of social capital far more often than others during job search. My results also show that social capital has a positive impact on urban residents' hourly wages, regardless of their hukou status. However, the rate of return on social capital is higher for male rural migrants than men born with urban hukou.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

I. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1

II. Literature Review....................................................................................................................................4

III. Data....................................................................................................................................................7

A. Data Description and Social Capital Index.....................................................................................................7

B. Means of the Independent and Dependent Variables......................................................................................11

IV. Methodologies.......................................................................................................................................15

V. Results.................................................................................................................................................18

A. The Size and Quality of Social Capital.........................................................................................................18

B. Utilization Rate of Social Capital in Job Search..............................................................................................23

C. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages..............................................................................................26

a. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages without Hukou Division...............................................................27

b. The Effects of Social Capital with Hukou Division...........................................................................................28

VI. Conclusions...........................................................................................................................................38

VII. Limitations and Further Improvements.......................................................................................................39

References................................................................................................................................................41

List of Tables

1. Hourly Income and Occupation Type...........................................................................................................10

2. Oaxaca Decomposition.............................................................................................................................11

3. Mean of Selected Variables by Current Hukou...............................................................................................13

4. Mean of Selected Variables by Hukou at Birth...............................................................................................14

5. The Size and Quality of Social Capital (current hukou status)..........................................................................20

6. The Size and Quality of Social Capital (hukou status at birth)..........................................................................21

7. The Utilization Rate of Social Capital in Job Search........................................................................................22

8. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages without Hukou Division...............................................................27

9. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages (hukou status at birth)...............................................................32

10. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages (current hukou status).............................................................33

11. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages without Occupation.................................................................35

12. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages (current hukou status-whole sample)..........................................36

13. The Effects of Social Capital on Hourly Wages (hukou status at birth-whole sample)..........................................37

About this Honors Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	Economics and Mathematics
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Economics, Labor
Keyword	Household Registration System China hukou social capital wages
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Carlson, Leonard A, Emory University
Committee Members	Borthwick, David, Emory University Ho, Wan-Li, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	The Impact of Household Registration System on the Economic Role of Social Capital in China Labor Market ()	2018-08-28 11:07:02 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions