9. A Study on the Effect of Basic Public Services in China on the Net Migration Rate of the Provincial Population Based on the Analysis of a Provincial Spatial Panel Model

This chapter introduces the Spatial Econometric Model (OpenGeoDa). The OpenGeoDa is applied to the analysis of the spatial distribution and evolution mechanism of net migration and how this is linked to the education and medical care level in a specific region. In this research a pooled panel regression is carried out based on the collected panel data from 2000 to 2011. The research shows that the development of the basic public services has a significant impact on the net migration rate of the inter provincial population, and the trend is gradually increasing. However, the effect of per capita GDP and other economic factors on migration in China is declining. In China, more attention should be paid to the non-economic factors, such as the basic public service, to direct the rationale of the population for migrating.