Digital Roots or Digital Routes? Broadband Expansion and the Rural‐Urban Migration in China.
This study investigates how broadband internet affects rural–urban migration in China using the Universal Broadband and Telecommunication Services pilot program launched in 2015 as a quasi‐experimental setting. Analyzing China Household Finance Survey data (2013–2021) with difference‐in‐differences...
| Publicado en: | Population & Development Review Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 374 - 403 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195292570&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195292570 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00987921 PDV jtl: Population & Development Review issn: 00987921 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 52 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 195292570 10.1111/padr.70042 ppf: 374 ppct: 29 formats: tig: atl: Digital Roots or Digital Routes? Broadband Expansion and the Rural‐Urban Migration in China. aug: au: Ma, Shuang Mu, Ren su: China Rural-urban migration Internet access Infrastructure (Economics) Demographic change Digital technology Communication infrastructure Economic statistics sug: subj: Rural-urban migration Internet access Infrastructure (Economics) Demographic change China Digital technology Communication infrastructure Economic statistics keyword: broadband internet information and communications technology quasi‐experiment rural–urban migration urbanization broadband internet information and communications technology quasi‐experiment rural–urban migration urbanization ab: This study investigates how broadband internet affects rural–urban migration in China using the Universal Broadband and Telecommunication Services pilot program launched in 2015 as a quasi‐experimental setting. Analyzing China Household Finance Survey data (2013–2021) with difference‐in‐differences estimation, we find that improved internet access significantly increased rural–urban migration by 3.2–3.4 percentage points, representing a 17.5–18.6 percent rise over the baseline migration rates of 18.3 percent. Effects were strongest in villages with fewer initial migrants, closer to county centers, and with better road infrastructure. At the individual level, impacts were largest among women, younger individuals, the more educated, and those from higher income households. The mechanism appears to be increased access to economic information. Our findings suggest broadband creates "digital routes" that facilitate out‐migration rather than "digital roots" that anchor residents to rural areas. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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