Can migrant workers return home to start businesses enhance the vitality of county economy?

Based on a quasi-natural experiment of the pilot program for migrant workers returning home to start businesses, this paper uses county-level panel data from 2006 to 2022 to empirically examine the impact of migrant workers returning home to start businesses on county economic vitality and its mechanism. The study finds that: (1) Migrant workers returning home to start businesses can significantly enhance county economic vitality, and the conclusion is robust after a series of robustness tests; (2) Migrant workers returning home to start businesses can indirectly promote the improvement of county economic vitality by enhancing county innovation vitality and entrepreneurial vitality, that is, innovation vitality and entrepreneurial vitality play a mediating role between the two; (3) The impact of migrant workers returning home to start businesses on county economic vitality is heterogeneous across regions with different geographical locations and different city levels. The research results of this paper provide a new perspective and empirical evidence for an in-depth understanding of the impact of migrant workers returning home to start businesses on county economic vitality.