Assessing the effect of regional intergenerational mobility on household energy poverty in China

Abstract

Eliminating energy poverty and promoting household energy transitions are crucial components of achieving sustainable development goals. While numerous studies have affirmed the importance of energy affordability and accessibility, the factors of regional intergenerational mobility and local social opportunity structures have not been adequately explored. This paper utilizes data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) to quantitatively measure city-level intergenerational mobility, and empirically examine its relationship with household energy poverty. Our baseline results indicate that higher regional intergenerational mobility significantly alleviates energy poverty. This positive effect remains robust after addressing potential endogeneity issues through various methods and conducting a series of robustness tests. Further mechanism analysis reveals that social trust and the degree of incentives are important influence channels. Additionally, the impact of intergenerational mobility on energy poverty is more pronounced in rural areas, central-western regions, and among high human capital groups. Based on these findings, we provide several policy implications for China and other developing countries to jointly address the energy crisis and promote sustainable human development. Urban practitioners should make concerted efforts to formulate distribution policies, educational policies, and employment policies to improve local social opportunity structures.