Volume 54 - Article 20 | Pages 591–644  

Return migration and educational investments in children in China: Hukou differences and the role of parental coresidence

By Xinyue Wu, Mariana Amorim

Abstract

Background: Returned children relocate to their original hukou locations after migration, often due to systemic barriers. China’s hukou system, which assigns rural or urban status, imposes institutional hurdles to those with non-local and rural hukou, resulting in educational exclusion and eventual return. Despite their non-negligible presence, these children remain hard to identify in surveys and overlooked in research on hukou-perpetuated educational inequities.

Objective: This study examines how children’s return migration influences household monetary and time investments in their education. It also investigates how the association between return migration and educational investments varies by hukou status and whether it is moderated or mediated by parental coresidence.

Methods: Using data from the 2013–2014 China Education Panel Survey, this study applies inverse probability of treatment weighting with log-linear regression and logistic regression models. Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition is used to test the mediating role of changes in parental coresidence on investment outcomes.

Results: Return migration is associated with a decline in the probability of investments in out-of-school education (e.g., extracurricular programs and private tutoring), particularly among families with rural hukou. The likelihood of quality time falls, but among households that do invest time, primary caregivers devote more time, consistent with the substitution of time for money under constraint. The absence of parental figures mediates a substantial share of the reduction in the probability of monetary participation in out-of-school education.

Contribution: This study highlights how return migration and hukou status intersect to shape educational inequality and intergenerational mobility. It provides new evidence on the redistributive role of migration in family educational investments.

Author’s Affiliation

• Xinyue Wu - Washington State University, United States of America EMAIL
• Mariana Amorim - Washington State University, United States of America EMAIL

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