Generational differences in urban settlement intentions of rural-to-urban migrants in China: Exploring the role of farmland holding

This paper explored the role of farmland holding in urban settlement intentions of rural-to-urban migrants in China by decomposing the difference in urban settlement intentions between younger and older generations of rural-to-urban migrants. Using nationally representative data from the 2017 National Internal Migrants Dynamic Monitoring Survey (n = 90,072), we found that while farmland holding had a significant negative impact on urban settlement intentions proxied by permanent settlement intention (PSI) and hukou transfer intention (HTI), this impact was more pronounced for older-generation migrants than for new-generation migrants. In particular, the urban settlement intentions differential between younger and older generations of migrants could be attributed to numerous offsetting proxies, with farmland holding status serving as an important contributor to the PSI and HIT differences. The equalization of farmland ownership between generations provided a possible way to narrow the gap in urban settlement intentions between the younger and older generations of rural migrants in China.