| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 國家發展研究所 === 105 === Migrant workers in China is a group of floating population generated by the urbanization and industrialization from the reform and opening-up policy. Unlike migration in other countries, migrant workers in China migrate back and forth between rural hometowns and workplaces in cities because of the strict Hukou restrictions. Research in new-generation migrant workers is a new progression of traditional migrant worker studies. Existing literature has indicated that the new-generation migrant workers do not have much sense of belonging like traditional migrant workers, but they pursue a long-term and stable city life instead.
This thesis attempts to identify the differences of consumption behavior between new-generation migrant workers and their reference groups, the traditional migrant workers and the new-generation urban residents. The Extended Linear Expenditure System (ELES) model is also applied to compute the marginal propensity to consume (MPC). Results show that new-generation migrant workers spend more on housing but less on vocational training than new-generation urban residents, and the lower expense on vocational training may bring more challenges to new-generation migrant workers for their careers in the future. The ELES results show that the new-generation migrant workers and urban residents have much higher MPC than the traditional generation, especially in housing, which highlights the heavy burden faced by the new generation. The findings of the determinants of expenditures show that bigger families spend more on children’s education. Male property ownership is associated with higher spending on housing, and female property ownership with higher children’s education. Social security program participation also helps achieve consumption smoothing in a family and increases the possibility of consuming durable goods, leisure and entertainment expense, non-personal medical deductibles and means of production expenses.
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