This paper demonstrates that the factors based on typical procedures that employ sorting by characteristics (including size and book-to-market, among others) can create a good mechanical fit in the regressions of portfolio returns. Such factors are approximately linear functions of the sorted...

We estimate intergenerational income mobility in the USA and Sweden. To measure the degree to which income status is transmitted from one generation to another we propose a nonparametric estimator, which is particularly relevant for cross-country comparisons. Our approach allows...

Rural-to-urban migration in China has transformed the lives of millions of rural residents. This paper reviews empirical evidence on the impacts of migration on the welfare of individuals and households in rural communities. After first discussing the evolution of institutions that have shaped...

The paper contributes to the measurement of poverty and vulnerability in three ways. First, we propose a new approach to separating poverty into chronic and transient components. Second, we provide corrections for the statistical biases introduced when using a small number of periods to estimate...

In this paper, we investigate how reductions of barriers to migration affect the decision of middle school graduates to attend high school in rural China. Change in the cost of migration is identified using exogenous variation across counties in the timing of national identity card distribution,...

We explore the relationship between the level of village inequality in 1986, and the subsequent growth of household incomes from 1986 to 1999. Using a detailed household-level data set from rural China, we find robust evidence that initial inequality is negatively related to subsequent household...

Recent research has shown that participation in migrant labor markets has led to substantial increases in income for families in rural China. This paper asks how participation is affected by elder parent health. We find that younger adults are less likely to work as migrants when a parent is...

Using data from the China Urban Labor Survey conducted in five large Chinese cities at year end 2001, we quantify the nature and magnitude of shocks to employment and worker benefits during the period of economic structuring from 1996 to 2001, and evaluate the extent to which adversely affected...