Environmental pollution and migrant settlement decision: Evidence from China

With the development of economy, people’s awareness of environmental protection has been constantly awakened, and their attention to environmental governance has also been increasing. The environmental conditions of residential areas are also becoming more and more important for residents to make settlement decisions. This study is the first to match the data of the air quality index to the data on the health monitoring of the floating population at the urban level. Moreover, it is the first to discuss the influence of environmental pollution on the settlement decision of the floating population. The results reveal that the higher the degree of environmental pollution (the level of infrastructure and public welfare) in a city, the greater the probability that the floating population will leave the city. The effects of environmental pollution are significant after considering other household, personal, and city characteristics of a population. Regarding family income constraints, the impact of environmental pollution on the migration decision of middle-income groups in the floating population is significantly lower than that of low-income groups. Moreover, there is a threshold effect of income. The influence of environmental pollution on the corresponding floating population settlement decision is different under different urban scales and current housing prices.