A Study On The Consumption Of Chinese Peasant-workers

With the decreasing marginal return of capital and disappearance of the demographic dividend,since the reform and opening-up,our country is more difficult to continue depending on the investment and the foreign trade-leading economic development mode,from investment and trade to driven by consumption,expanding consumer demand has become an important part of the economic transformation and upgrading,however,the reality is that the consumption rate of residents was rapid decline in the first 10 years of this century,still hovering at the bottom.Along with rapid downward of the consumption rate,large-scale inflow of migrant workers,due to the instability of income,uncover of social security,the consumption ability and intention of migrant workers will be restricted,whether the consumer downturn will help explain the low consumption Chinese mystery?What are the main factors that restrict the consumption of migrant workers?This dissertation intends to examine various aspects which may cause the inadequate consumption of migrant workers through analyzing their consumption status.We consider many factors such as the income level of migrant workers,household registration system,social security,income inequality in the urban area,the backflow of migrant workers,and urbanization may have an impact on the consumption status of migrant workers.The main findings are as follows:(1)Low consumption of migrant workers may offer part of the explanation the mystery of China's low consumption.In this dissertation,the city level data shows that the higher the proportion of migrant workers in a city,the lower the overall consumption rate of the city.On this basis,we further investigate the underlying causes,the most direct explanation is that the income level of migrant workers is lower than the local residents,because the income is the most basic determinants of consumption,low income will lower the overall consumption rate of city.In addition,we find that,compared with the local residents,consumption rate of migrant workers is lower,that is to say,even if the same level of income,the consumption of migrant workers will still be lower.Compared with the low level of income,in the dissertation we argue that the lower consumption rateunder the same level of income is more constrained by the institutional factors,the causes are more complex.(2)The limitation of the household registration system and the lack of social security are the main social factors.Starting from the basic facts,from the social security coverage,the nature of the contract perspective to study the discrepancy between migrant workers and local residents;on this basis,we based on the CHIPS(2007)micro survey data,detailed investigation of migrant workers and local residents differences in consumption structure,and the differences in similarities and differences between regions.We found that the consumption differences between the two groups is most obvious,especially reflect in medical and consumer durables,and in the eastern region.and it is consistent with our prediction,which the household registration restrictions and the corresponding lack of social security suppress the consumption rate of migrant workers.(3)In the existed literature,researchers are mostly studying on the income gap between urban and rural areas or regional difference.Based on the perspective of within the city level,our estimation finds that employment discrimination generally exists in the employment field of migrant workers.Compared to the city residents who has the relative same level of education and experience,migrant workers are more likely to have lower wages,social security,welfare,etc.This difference not only leads to a lower consumption but also puts forward the income gap.(4)The backflow of migrant workers benefits to promote the consumption rate of migrant workers.We investigate the consumption differences between intra-provincial migrant family and trans-provincial migrant family,in the same level of social security,trans-provincial migrant family income level and consumption level is higher,but the overall household consumption rate is lower than intra-provincial migrant families,specifically in the clothing,durable goods.But housing expenditure,traffic expenditure is lower than trans-provincial migrant family.On this basis,the back flow of migrant workers promotes urban-rural integration from a new dimension,given the influence of integration of urban and rural areas to rural consumption,this trend will have profound impact on the rural consumption and consumption of migrant workers.The innovations of this dissertation are as follows:(1)This dissertation from the low consumption Chinese mystery theme,in the city level,we find that,lack of consumption of the migrant workers helps explain the current Chinese “low consumption puzzle”,on this basis,to explore the causes of inadequate consumption,we investigate migrant workers from the two perspectives: income and consumption,which is beneficial supplement on the existing research of low consumption of mystery.(2)In this dissertation,the income gap between the rural migrant workers and the local residents can be measured directly,and it is found that the gap between these two groups has significantly restricted the consumption rate of the migrant workers.The study of the relationship between income gap and consumption from the perspective of the city,especially the focus of the existing research,is a useful supplement and innovation.(3)The existing household registration system has significantly inhibited the consumption intention of migrant workers through social security and other channels.It means that in order to promote the economy to the consumption-driving transformation,liberalization of household registration restrictions is just a beginning,the more important thing is to improve the coverage of social security,realize the equalization of public services.(4)We discuss that the influence of the latest trend of migrant workers returning to the countryside and nearby residents on the consumption of migrant workers.These studies are rare,and based on qualitative analysis,by carefully examining differences between intra-provincial and trans-provincial family of consumption behavior and consumption structure,further,we give specific evidence about the backflow of migrant workers to promote the consumption,and discuss the detailed mechanism behind it.