Approaching Integrated Urban-Rural Development in China: The Changing Institutional Roles

This paper examines the impact of institutional change on the implementation of China’s integrated urban-rural development strategy in the period 1981–2010. The findings indicate that governmental investment in rural areas and the development of non-agricultural industries in the countryside in fact contributed positively to the integration of urban-rural development in the period studied. The household registration system, however, was found to have acted as an obstacle to integration due to its exclusion of rural immigrants from welfare benefits. The reform of the agricultural production price system was not found to have exerted an impact, since low agricultural incomes compelled peasants to undertake non-agricultural work in towns and cities. A robustness check performed as part of the study proved the reliability of these findings.