Labor mobility, marketization and urban income change: Potential rural-urban harmonization or not

Previous literature omitted marketization process, a distinct phenomenon in transitional China, when the relationship between immigrants and indigenous urban income is investigated. We find that (1) marketization is a key factor of rural-urban harmonization; (2) segmentation of labor market has no real effect on urban income change since it may be evaded partly by rural labor; (3) the key determinants of urban income change are the cross effect between marketization and mobility, openness, and government spending; and (4) the marginal effect of immigrants is positive in some regions although it is averagely negative during the sample period. Rural-urban harmonization is totally possible if marketization process continues.