Urban Bias, Migration, and Unemployment

Abstract We investigate how urban bias affects rural-urban migration and unemployment. The findings are as follows. When there is an increase in the degree of urban bias in the urban skilled sector, the number of rural-urban migrants will decline, and the urban unskilled unemployment rate will rise. However, when there is an increase in the degree of urban bias in the urban unskilled sector, if the initial allocation proportion of public infrastructure for the urban unskilled sector is large (resp. small) enough, the number of rural-urban migrants will fall (resp. rise), and the urban unskilled unemployment rate will rise (resp. fall).