Measuring Hukou Amenity by Using Urban Land Price in China

Abstract

This paper conducts an empirical study on the land supply with Chinese characteristics in terms of the most different characteristics between China and other major economies in the world, such as Hukou (household registration) system, by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis. The main purpose of this paper is to use land price to measure city amenity in China. By doing this, the spatial distribution of urban residents becomes much more understandable. This paper firstly points out the driving forces of population migration to cities are not only wages, but also cities’ amenity. The paper suggests that it is important to quantify the amenity of a city to understand the specific mechanism of amenity in population flow and regional development. It is found that the amenity of Hukou of other grades is far less than that of those top cities like Beijing. The paper suggests this polarization not only causes the sense of unfairness, but also damages the free flow of elements and economic efficiency. This paper has also recommended some useful thoughts on this issue, like to remove the limitation of population in the super first tier or first tier cities to give full play to the agglomeration effect and advantages of big cities. Besides, the supply of public goods cannot be too concentrated in large cities. The government needs to constantly narrow the regional public service gap on the supply side, gradually eliminate the privileges behind Hukou, and let the Hukou system return to its original meaning. JEL classification numbers: R20, R58. Keywords: Hukou, Amenity, Urban Land Supply.