Since 1958 the hukou (household registration) system has assigned Chinese citizens either a rural or urban status. Some studies argue that the rural-to-urban migrants in China who do not have urban hukou are not entitled to urban social insurance schemes, due to institutional discrimination,...

This study investigates determinants of happiness and job satisfaction of urban locals, first-generation migrants and new-generation migrants in China's urban workforce. We present evidence to suggest that new-generation migrants are less satisfied with their jobs and lives than first-generation...

This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating differentials in the context of China's migrant workers. Using survey data collected from the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province in south China, this study...

This study explores the relationship between home ownership and subjective wellbeing in urban China. We first present a theoretical model examining the relationship between housing property rights and subjective wellbeing in China. We then test the predictions of the theoretical model using a...

We examine the relationship between sexual activities and happiness using a sample of 3800 adults from China. We establish some firm results about the contribution of sexual activities and relationships to happiness for an important country other than the United States. Our main finding is that...

Using a unique dataset from the Pearl River Delta in China we examine the factors associated with rural-urban migrants’ participation in, and expenditure on, illegal gambling. We find that similar demographic and lifestyle characteristics are associated with participation in, and...

This paper examines the effect of having a labour contract on a range of employee outcomes (hours worked, social insurance coverage, subjective wellbeing and wages) for a sample of urban and migrant workers in China. A methodological contribution is that we use propensity score matching, which...

This study has three purposes. The first is to examine the determinants of wage arrears among rural-urban migrants in China. The second is to examine the effect of wage arrears on economic wellbeing as proxied by wages. The third is to examine how experiencing wage arrears affects several...

This study explores the relationship between home ownership and subjective wellbeing in urban China using a nationally representative dataset. Compared with the limited extant literature on this topic for China, we use a more recent dataset, allow for a greater range of ownership forms, consider...

This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in urban labour markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for...