Dennis Egger
eggerdennis.bsky.social
Dennis Egger
@eggerdennis.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Economics @OxfordEconDept Working on general equilibrium effects of cash and social protection, migration, and networks.

www.dennisegger.net
On average, Hukou became substantially less restrictive. Between 2014 - 2019, our period of study, on average, 10 percent of rural origin populations became eligible to get urban Hukou across all rural-urban pairs.
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
The Hukou system long restricted access to urban jobs, housing, and services. Reforms in the last decades at the municipal and city level targeting specific origins and types of workers create rich variation in Hukou eligibility across bilateral rural-urban routes.
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Example: Shaji Village, Jiangsu.

A migrant worker came back from Shanghai inspired by an Ikea store. He started making simple flat-pack furniture— easy to ship online. Today, Shaji is a major furniture cluster.
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Take China’s “Taobao Villages”

Many began when migrants returned home after working in cities. They used what they’d learned about urban demand to build thriving e-commerce hubs connecting rural producers to city buyers.
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
🚨 WP Alert 🚨 ‘Rural-Urban Migration and Market Integration’ with @BenFaber, @WeiLin, and @MingLi is now R&R at AER. www.nber.org/papers/w34098
November 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM