自上世纪80年代中期以来农村劳动力开始大规模外出务工，而且这种趋势持续至今。不过，尽管农民工相关问题一直是学术界和政府的关注热点，但缺少关于当前农村劳动力外出务工对输出地经济发展影响的系统研究。本项目从微观家庭决策的视角出发，使用北京大学的“中国家庭动态跟踪调查”面板数据，并结合本项目对农村劳动力输出大省——湖北和河南的农村家庭调查，来系统研究当前农村劳动力外出务工对输出地经济发展的影响。本项目研究内容主要包括，劳动力外出务工对输出地留守家庭的消费支出、生产投资（包括农业生产与投资创业）、人力资本投资（包括教育健康）与劳动供给等方面的影响。与宏观视角不同的是，微观家庭调查可提供更为详尽丰富的信息，从而更有利于理解劳动力外出务工对输出地经济发展的影响机制。本项目研究不仅可以丰富劳动力迁移相关理论，也能就如何发挥当前劳动力外出对输出地经济发展的积极作用给出政策建议，具有重要的理论和现实意义。

Since the mid-1980s the scale of China's rural labor migration has been increasing continuously. In recent years this rural labor migration has drawn a lot of attention from both academic researchers and policy makers, but there are few systematic studies regarding the impact of China’s rural labor migration on the economic development of origin communities. This project aims to fill this gap by using the CFPS panel data from the Institute of Social Science Survey of Peking University and our own household survey data covering Hubei and Henan provinces. We will study the impacts of rural labor migration on the expenditure pattern of left-behind families, on their agricultural production and self-employment activities, on their investment in education and health, and on their labor supply decisions. Compared with macro studies, the micro household survey data can provide more detailed information and thus better enhance our understanding of the mechanisms how rural labor migration affects the economic development of home regions. It also has important policy implications.