Seminar of Economic and Social Research Institute (N0.42)

Migrant Workers and Cities in China
Seminar | April 19, 2017 | 1:00-2:45 p.m. | 106B conference room in Zhonghui Building

Speaker: Zhao Da-xuan, Renmin University of China
Sponsor: JNU Economic and Social Research Institute

ABOUT ZHAO DA-XUAN
Obtaining his doctor’s degree from Department of Real Estate of National University of Singapore in 2013, Zhao Da-xuan served as assistant professor in Division of Accounting and Finance of Renmin University of China. His main research fields include real estate, household finance, urban economics and environmental economics.

Abstract：
The recent urbanization in China has caused a large number of migrant workers to leave their hometowns and separate from their families to earn more money in the city. This paper constructs a model to demonstrate that highly skilled cities are more productive but that total consumption there does not increase more than in other cities, since the production and consumption by migrant workers are separate. Thus, real wages in the skilled cities decline slowly with the expansion of the city. Economic agglomeration is enhanced.