关键词: 迁移成本, 选择效应, 产出提升

Abstract: This paper estimates the impact of migration cost reduction on macro-output and individual income of labor in China, accounting for the selection effect of labor and spatial heterogeneity of human capital. The estimation results show that: when the migration cost is 0, the total labor output will increase by 18.41%; based on the influence of market competition mechanism, the range of labor wage change in each region is ?19.4% to 16.5%; 83.7% of the regional workers benefit from the reduction of migration cost, while 16.3% of the regional workers will suffer losses. Generally speaking, workers in the lower income regions will benefit more, but workers in some high-income regions may suffer. In addition, this study also shows that ignoring the selection effect will underestimate the impact of the reduction of migration cost on the total output. Although free migration will not bring positive benefits to the income of workers in each region, from the macro level, free migration of labor force helps to improve the overall economic output and narrow the income gap between regions. We should strengthen efforts to reduce the cost of migration and encourage the free migration of labor force, which may become a new power source for the continuation of China?s economic growth trend.

Key words: Migration Cost, Selection Effect, Output Promotion