Intergenerational Transmission, Self-Effort and Income Gap between Urban and Rural Youth in China ()
ABSTRACT
Based on the data of China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1991
to 2015, the effects of intergenerational income transmission and self-effort
on the income gap between urban and rural youth under different quantiles were
studied by using RIF’s unconditional quantile regression and distribution
decomposition method. The results show that the parents’ income has a
significant impact on the income of urban and rural youth in each quantile, and
it is the main driving force to widen the income gap. By decomposing the
intergenerational income elasticity, it is found that the intergenerational income
of urban youth is mainly transmitted through education, while the rural youth
is more reflected in the path of career transmission. Hard work has a strong
impact on the income of urban and rural youth only in the middle and low
quantiles, and the effect of rural youth is greater than that of urban youth.
Hard work can reduce the income gap between urban and rural youth in the middle
and low quantiles, but at the cost of “reverse discrimination” against rural
youth.
Share and Cite:
Han, J. and Philip, A. (2021) Intergenerational Transmission, Self-Effort and Income Gap between Urban and Rural Youth in China.
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
9, 127-144. doi:
10.4236/jss.2021.94011.