%A Kunrong Shen, Jixiang Yu, Jian Li %T Labor Mobility, Marketization and Urban Income Change: Potential Rural-Urban Harmonization or Not %0 Journal Article %D 2011 %J Front. Econ. China %J Frontiers of Economics in China %@ 1673-3444 %R 10.1007/s11459-011-0141-5 %P 447-463 %V 6 %N 3 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/10.1007/s11459-011-0141-5 %8 2011-09-05 %X

Previous literature omitted marketization process, a distinct phenomenon in transitional China, when the relationship between immigrants and indigenous urban income is investigated. We find that (1) marketization is a key factor of rural-urban harmonization; (2) segmentation of labor market has no real effect on urban income change since it may be evaded partly by rural labor; (3) the key determinants of urban income change are the cross effect between marketization and mobility, openness, and government spending; and (4) the marginal effect of immigrants is positive in some regions although it is averagely negative during the sample period. Rural-urban harmonization is totally possible if marketization process continues.