劳动经济学研讨会          （总第53期）      
      【时 间】2018年10月8日（周一）12:00－13:30          【地 点】明德主楼734会议室          【主 题】When Buddies Migrate: School Dropout and Peer Migration in China          【主讲人】王睿新（哈尔滨工业大学（深圳）经济管理学院助理教授）          【主持人】陆方文（中国人民大学经济学院教授）          【点评人】孙文凯（中国人民大学经济学院教授）          【摘 要】The secondary school dropout rates have reached alarming rates in rural China. The dropout problem not only compromises future options for the school-leavers, but also sets China up for a human capital crisis in the future. In this paper, we empirically explore the effect of peer migration on school dropout decision. As a key determinant, peer migration worsens the school dropout problem, not only by affecting the youngster`s decision of migrating to work in the urban area, but also by increasing the probability of working locally. Using the data of Census 2010 in China, we estimate the impact of peer migration on youngsters` school dropout decision in a Multinomial Probit Model, highlighting the cross-choice effect of peer migration. To address the "reflection problem" and other concerns with endogeneity, we further identify the impact of peer migration using a unique census-type panel dataset from Guizhou Province in China. We employ an exogenous policy shock of land expropriation as an instrumental variable. The census-type dataset in 26 natural villages also allows us to appropriately define the reference group. The estimation results provide us with further evidence on the impact of peer migration on school dropout and its underlying mechanisms (social learning effect vs. social utility effect). We also find that the impacts are heterogeneous, depending on youngster` gender and social connections.          
         【主讲人简介】王睿新博士，现任哈尔滨工业大学（深圳）经济管理学院助理教授。先后获大连理工大学经济学学士 (2008年)，香港科技大学经济学硕士 (2009年)，荷兰蒂尔堡大学经济学博士（2015年)。在加入哈尔滨工业大学（深圳）之前，他曾任职香港浸会大学商学院，并曾在国际食物政策研究所（IFPRI）短期实习。王睿新博士的主要研究领域为发展经济学与公共经济学，主要研究兴趣集中于决定经济发展的（非正式）制度和政策因素。他的研究成果发表于 Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 等期刊，其关于风险分担和礼金竞赛的论文曾获得第一届中国劳动经济学者论坛年会（2016）最佳论文奖。