Bidirectional spatial mobility and intergenerational social mobility in contemporary China: the role of escalator regions

Previous literature on the notion of escalator regions has focused on the impact of unidirectional spatial mobility on intragenerational mobility. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey conducted in 2010, 2013, and 2015, this study elucidates the effects of bidirectional spatial mobility on intergenerational social mobility and its mechanisms. Consistent with the escalator region theory, a migration premium exists in contemporary China. Whether moving upward or downward across the urban hierarchy, migrants can achieve more proportional upward intergenerational mobility than non-migrants. However, the escalator regions for each directional migrant subgroup and their underlying mechanisms of social mobility are somewhat different. The positive impact of downward spatial mobility on intergenerational mobility is largely due to one-off elevator effects in the relatively populous or economically advanced destination cities. In contrast, all destination cities, not just the core cities, can act as escalator regions for upward migrants as a result of long-term escalator effects. These conclusions generally apply to migrants with and without local hukou. However, compared to local hukou migrants, non-local hukou migrants’ opportunities for social advancement are largely constrained by institutional discrimination, so they depend more on the continuing escalator effect that takes time to accumulate human and social capital to realize upward intergenerational mobility.