Does Migrant Workers'Returning Home to Start Businesses Narrow the Urban-Rural Income Gap in Counties——Evidence from the Pilot Policy of Returning Home to Start Businesses
Guiding migrant workers to return to their hometowns and start their own businesses is not only an effective means to improve labor market mismatch,but also an important path to narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas.This article examines the mechanism and spatial spillover effects of the policy of migrant workers'returning home to start business on the urban-rural income gap by using Chinese county data and the difference-in-differences method.It is found that the policy can significantly narrow the urban-rural income gap,and this result still holds after a series of robustness tests.The reduction in urban-rural income gap is more significant in the central and western counties,the main food-producing counties,and the labor-exporting counties.The mechanism tests show that the policy can narrow the urban-rural income gap by promoting industrial structure upgrading,alleviating financing constraints,and improving the level of innovation.Further research finds that there is a significant spatial spillover effect of the policy,which can significantly reduce the urban-rural income gap in the local counties,whereas widening the urban-rural income gap in neighboring counties.The above findings provide important evidence for further optimizing the policy of migrant workers returning home to start business and narrowing the urban-rural income gap.
Returning Home to Start BusinessUrban-Rural Income GapDifference-in-Differences MethodSpatial Spillover Effect
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
