Who Becomes Registered Urban Resident during China's Massive Urbanization: Assessing the Roles of Human, Political and Social Capital

Background

Over the last half-century, registered urban residents persistently occupy an advantageous position over rural residents or rural-urban migrants in obtaining good jobs, health care, housing and even education for their children. Therefore, transforming one’s household registration (hukou) status from rural to urban is a very effective path to upward social mobility. Prior research shows that education, Party membership and military service are the three most significant predictors of hukou conversion. However, the finding does not have the necessary data to address the statistical problems of reverse causation and unobserved heterogeneity, and the role of familial ties in hukou conversion.

Question

We re-examine the roles of three types of predictors in hukou conversion: human, political and social capital.

Data and Analysis

We draw on the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey that provides crucial timing data for life events, including the timing of hukou conversion for both the respondents and their spouses, first marriage and joining in the Communist Party. 

Empirical Findings

(1) Education is a far more powerful credential than expected, facilitating the use of not only educational channels, but also a wide range of state sponsored conversion channels, such as military, employment in state sector or cadre; (2) when reverse causation is thoroughly eliminated, we show that Party membership actually impedes, not facilitates, hukou conversion, and thus wholly contrary to the view of the prevailing literature. By controlling for the impact of unobserved heterogeneity, the results suggest that securing Party membership in one’s home town appears to undermine the incentive for mobility to urban areas by enhancing the chance of one’s local success; (3) marrying an urban husband is rural women’s social capital for hukou conversion, almost completely offsetting the human capital advantages of rural men, resulting in no overall gender difference in becoming registered urban residents.