Determinants of Household Income Mobility in Rural China

This article uses multivariate regression and decomposition analyses to assess householdincome mobility determinants and their contributions to income mobility in rural Chinafrom 1989 to 2006.The findings indicate that households with lower initial income level,higher share of wage income, higher educational level of household members, larger numberof non-agricultural employed household members and younger heads are more mobile.Moreover, besides initial income, change in the share of wage income, change in the shareof non-agricultural employed household members, and change in average year of educationof household members are the most important factors that account for income mobility.These findings necessitate more emphasis on policies that promote non-agriculturalemployment and education to enhance household income mobility in rural China.