City-level socioeconomic divergence, air pollution differentials and internal migration in China: Migrants vs talent migrants

This study investigates the relative impacts of city-level contextual features, including air quality, medical resources and socioeconomic development indicators, on the scale of intercity migration and the proportion of talents in migration flows. We find that air pollution exerts a strong deterrent impact, while the availability of medical services has a positive impact, on intercity migration. The magnitude of estimated effects of air quality and medical resources is considerably higher than most of socioeconomic indicators, especially for those educated migrants. There is a considerable heterogeneity in the effects of city-level factors on migrants' destination choices. Migrants who undertake intra-provincial migration and those who migrate to the eastern and western regions and the provincial capital cities, especially those talent migrants, are more responsive to the changes in air quality and medical resources. We also find that the institutional legacy and the resulting segmented urban labour market continue to function in social and labour stratifications, which plays an important role in determining intercity migration and makes some push-pull factors ineffective or run contrary to the conventional wisdom.