AOC: Migration and Well-Being of China's Rural Population

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SBE-0527690Arthur KleinmanChi-Man Winnie YipHarvard University Rapid economic development and population movements have led to major economic, social and cultural transformations around the globe in the past few decades. Despite the profound impacts these transformations can have on the population's well-being, our knowledge on how to anticipate problems is limited. The existing economic literature on economic growth is mostly conducted at the macro level, which hides significant differential impacts across regions and individuals. Besides, most economic literature focuses on income, thus equating economic well-being with overall well-being. However, recent empirical studies show little relationship between income growth and measures of subjective well-being. More importantly, most existing studies are single-disciplined, which inhibits the examination of the complex and dynamic relationships among various economic, social and cultural forces that act independently and interactively to impact on the well-being of individuals. This interdisciplinary research project will examine rural to urban migration in China as an agent of change and how that affects a set of complex and dynamic relationships among many economic, social and cultural factors and their effects on the well-being of individuals. The research uses an integrative framework, with economic theory as a foundation to integrate relevant concepts and findings from other disciplines. This approach takes advantage of the analytical rigor and tractability of economic models plus the contributions of anthropology, sociology and psychology that help us to understand human behavior and social/individual interactions. An integrated conceptual framework allows for hypotheses-driven data collection and empirical testing, rather than ad hoc statistical associations. Methodologically, a major innovation is the integration of ethnographic studies and household surveys. The investigators will collect data through three methods: pre-survey ethnographic studies to inform the study on hypothesis formulation and design of culturally and socially sensitive survey instruments; household surveys to collect quantitative data; and post-survey ethnography to more fully explore survey findings and provide rich qualitative information for interpreting survey results. In addition, the study design takes advantage of the "natural experiment" created by China's entry into WTO (World Trade Organization) and the differential effect it has on various types of agricultural products and the regions that specialize in them. Broader Impact. The project will contribute to the training of a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers through the involvement of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the planning, implementation, and data analysis phases. The longitudinal data collected as part of the study will also be made available for students, junior researchers and the larger public to conduct research on a number of dynamic relationships among economic, social, cultural changes in rural China and their consequences, and relationships with health and well-being.