Showing papers in "Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2013"
TL;DR: The authors overviews the evidence in support of using incentives to increase response rates and suggests areas for future research on the effects of differential incentives on response rates, and the general effects of incentives on measures of data quality.
Abstract: To address the issue of survey nonresponse, one critical best practice that has emerged is the increasing use of incentives for participation. Many critical surveys use incentives to reduce refusals to participate, and the effects have been consistently documented to produce an increase in response rates. However, less is known about the effects of incentives on data quality or the long-term effects of using incentives on the public’s willingness to participate in surveys. This chapter overviews the evidence in support of using incentives to increase response rates and suggests areas for future research on the effects of differential incentives on response rates and the general effects of incentives on measures of data quality.
402 citations
TL;DR: A review of nonresponse in cross-sectional household surveys in the United States shows trends in nonresponse rates, the main reasons for nonresponse, and changes in the components of non-response.
Abstract: This review of nonresponse in cross-sectional household surveys in the United States shows trends in nonresponse rates, the main reasons for nonresponse, and changes in the components of nonresponse. It shows that nonresponse is increasing but that existing methods for modeling response mechanisms do not adequately explain these changes.
278 citations
TL;DR: Examination of disparities in wealth holdings leading up to the Great Recession and during the first years of the recovery finds that all socioeconomic groups experienced declines in wealth following the recession, with higher wealth families experiencing larger absolute declines.
Abstract: The collapse of the labor, housing, and stock markets beginning in 2007 created unprecedented challenges for American families. This study examines disparities in wealth holdings leading up to the Great Recession and during the first years of the recovery. All socioeconomic groups experienced declines in wealth following the recession, with higher wealth families experiencing larger absolute declines. In percentage terms, however, the declines were greater for less advantaged groups as measured by minority status, education, and prerecession income and wealth, leading to a substantial rise in wealth inequality in just a few years. Despite large changes in wealth, longitudinal analyses demonstrate little change in mobility in the ranking of particular families in the wealth distribution. Between 2007 and 2011, one-fourth of American families lost at least 75 percent of their wealth, and more than half of all families lost at least 25 percent of their wealth. Multivariate longitudinal analyses document that...
204 citations
TL;DR: The Great Recession heightened a growing conflict in the United States between expanding enrollments in postsecondary education and contracting public budget support as discussed by the authors, with much of the increase in enrollment occurring outside the most selective institutions.
Abstract: The Great Recession heightened a growing conflict in the United States between expanding enrollments in postsecondary education and contracting public budget support. Weak labor market conditions during the Great Recession encouraged college enrollments, with much of the increase in enrollment occurring outside the most selective institutions. While federal aid policies, including the Pell grant, became more generous, dramatic reductions in state budget allocations made it difficult for colleges and universities to maintain programming and accommodate student demand. As a result, the Great Recession has accelerated the cost-shifting from public subsidies to individual payments in higher education.
165 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the major consequences of survey nonresponse, with particular attention to recent years, are described, and a survey complexity in terms of design, implementation, and processing of survey data, such as the use of multiphase and responsive designs.
Abstract: Nonresponse is a prominent problem in sample surveys. At face value, it reduces the trust in survey estimates. Nonresponse undermines the probability-based inferential mechanism and introduces the potential for nonresponse bias. In addition, there are other important consequences. The effort to limit increasing nonresponse has led to higher survey costs—allocation of greater resources to measure and reduce nonresponse. Nonresponse has also led to greater survey complexity in terms of design, implementation, and processing of survey data, such as the use of multiphase and responsive designs. The use of mixed-mode and multiframe designs to address nonresponse increases complexity but also introduces other sources of error. Surveys have to rely to a greater extent on statistical adjustments and auxiliary data. This article describes the major consequences of survey nonresponse, with particular attention to recent years.
151 citations
TL;DR: Trends in response rates in several major, national longitudinal surveys in the United States and abroad are examined and it is found that for most of these surveys, the wave-to-wave response rate has not declined.
Abstract: It has been well documented that response rates to cross-sectional surveys have declined over the past few decades. It is less clear whether response rates to longitudinal surveys have experienced similar changes over time. This article examines trends in response rates in several major, national longitudinal surveys in the United States and abroad. The authors find that for most of these surveys, the wave-to-wave response rate has not declined. This article also describes the various approaches that these surveys use to minimize attrition.
143 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that fertility declined by 9 to 11 percent, depending on the measure, and the decline was greater in states that experienced higher increases in unemployment, which suggests postponement rather than forgoing of births.
Abstract: Recessions can alter family life by constraining the choices that individuals and couples make concerning their family lives and by activating the family’s role as an emergency support system. Both effects were visible during and after the Great Recession. Fertility declined by 9 to 11 percent, depending on the measure, and the decline was greater in states that experienced higher increases in unemployment. The decline was greater among younger women, which suggests postponement rather than forgoing of births. The fall in fertility was sharpest for Hispanics, a result the authors attribute to a drop in Mexican immigration, which reduced the number of recent immigrants, the group with the highest fertility. Substantial increases occurred in the percentage of young adults, single and married, who lived with their parents, augmenting a long-term trend toward intergenerational coresidence. There was a slight decline in divorce and separation in states with higher unemployment.
139 citations
TL;DR: Examining returns to pre-prison environments, residential mobility, and the role of intermediate sanctions—punishments for parole violations that are less severe than returning to prison—on where former prisoners live suggests that, through parole supervision, the criminal justice system generates significant residential mobility.
Abstract: Poor urban communities experience high rates of incarceration and prisoner reentry. This paper examines the residences where former prisoners live after prison, focusing on returns to pre-prison social environments, residential mobility, and the role of intermediate sanctions. Drawing on a unique dataset that follows a cohort of Michigan parolees released in 2003 over time using administrative records, we examine returns to pre-prison environments, both immediately after prison and in the months and years after release. We then investigate the role of intermediate sanctions - punishments for parole violations that are less severe than returning to prison - in residential mobility among parolees. Our results show low rates of return to former neighborhoods and high rates of residential mobility after prison, a significant portion of which is driven by intermediate sanctions resulting from criminal justice system supervision. These results suggest that, through parole supervision, the criminal justice system generates significant residential mobility.
137 citations
TL;DR: The Multi-level Integrated Database Approach employs multiple databases to collect as much information as possible about the target sample during the initial sampling stage and at all possible levels of aggregation to maximize the accuracy of estimated response propensities.
Abstract: Surveys undergird government statistical systems and social scientific research throughout the world. Rates of nonresponse are rising in cross-sectional surveys (those conducted during a fixed period of time and not repeated). Although this trend worries those concerned with the validity of survey data, there is no necessary relationship between the rate of nonresponse and the degree of bias. A high rate of nonresponse merely creates the potential for bias, but the degree of bias depends on how factors promoting nonresponse are related to variables of interest. Nonresponse can be reduced by offering financial incentives to respondents and by careful design before entering the field, creating a trade-off between cost and potential bias. When bias is suspected, it can be countered by weighting individual cases by the inverse of their response propensity. Response propensities are typically estimated using a logistic regression equation to predict the dichotomous outcome of survey participation as a function...
124 citations
TL;DR: This paper used longitudinal qualitative data from one hundred low-income African American families in Mobile, Alabama, to explore this phenomenon, finding that tenants' limited housing search resources, involuntary mobility, landlord practices, and several aspects of the voucher program itself limit families' ability to escape disadvantaged areas.
Abstract: Individuals participating in the HUD Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly Section 8, can rent units in the private market and are not tied to public housing projects in a specific neighborhood We would expect vouchers to help poor families leave the ghetto and move to more diverse communities with higher socioeconomic opportunity, but many voucher holders remain concentrated in poor, segregated communities We use longitudinal qualitative data from one hundred low-income African American families in Mobile, Alabama, to explore this phenomenon, finding that tenants’ limited housing search resources, involuntary mobility, landlord practices, and several aspects of the voucher program itself limit families’ ability to escape disadvantaged areas We also find that the voucher program’s regulations and funding structures do not incentivize housing authorities to promote neighborhood mobility and residential choice This combination of forces often keeps voucher recipients in neighborhoods with high concen
118 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the fewer the resources to which people have access, the more their circumstances will depend on the organizations in which they participate, the systems in which these organizations operate, and the institutions governing the behavior of both.
Abstract: The recent economic recession and a sluggish recovery have made conditions especially precarious for the most disadvantaged members of the urban poor population—those with criminal records, health conditions, undocumented status, or unstable housing. We argue that the fewer the resources to which people have access, the more their circumstances will depend on the organizations in which they participate, the systems in which these organizations operate, and the institutions governing the behavior of both. We call for a renewed focus on systems, institutions, and organizations among researchers who study urban disadvantage, and review a series of studies that show the promise of these perspectives.
TL;DR: In this article, two research traditions have evolved to assess links between recessions and health, with seemingly divergent findings: aggregate-level studies generally find that mortality rates decline during recessionary periods, while individual-level study generally finds that events that frequently occur during recessions, like job loss, unemployment, and material hardship, carry negative health consequences.
Abstract: Two research traditions have evolved to assess links between recessions and health, with seemingly divergent findings. Aggregate-level studies generally find that mortality rates decline during recessionary periods. By contrast, individual-level studies generally find that events that frequently occur during recessions, like job loss, unemployment, and material hardship, carry negative health consequences. We comprehensively review evidence from these two bodies of research, illustrate key findings, and show how the different mechanisms can operate in parallel. We also outline some of the limitations of the extant evidence, discuss studies emerging to address these limits and directions for future research, and provide brief empirical examples to illustrate some of these limits and directions using the Health and Retirement Study and the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study. Our review emphasizes the importance of considering both the aggregate- and individual-level associations when evaluating the likel...
TL;DR: Aggregate per capita expenditures in safety net programs grew significantly, with particularly strong growth in the SNAP, EITC, UI, and Medicaid programs, and the increase in transfers was widely shared across demographic groups.
Abstract: The social safety net responded in significant and favorable ways during the Great Recession. Aggregate per capita expenditures grew significantly, with particularly strong growth in the SNAP, EITC, UI, and Medicaid programs. Distributionally, the increase in transfers was widely shared across demographic groups, including families with and without children, single-parent and two-parent families. Transfers grew as well among families with more employed members and with fewer employed members. However, the increase in transfer amounts was not strongly progressive across income classes within the low-income population, increasingly slightly more for those just below the poverty line and those just above it, compared to those at the bottom of the income distribution. This is mainly the result of the EITC program, which provides greater benefits to those with higher family earnings. The expansions of SNAP and UI benefitted those at the bottom of the income distribution to a greater extent.
TL;DR: The authors summarizes empirical research on the relationship between economic downturns and child and youth development and discusses theoretical perspectives linking economic downturn to child development through the family's emotional and behavioral processes, on one hand, and family investments of time and money, on the other.
Abstract: The Great Recession and its reverberations resulted in levels of economic distress unprecedented since the 1930s. Economic downturns, including the Great Recession, are known to affect adult employment and income, housing, family composition, and financial strain. Many of these family characteristics affect child and adolescent development in the short and long run. The nature of children’s experiences in economically unstable families during the Great Recession is not yet fully understood. This article summarizes empirical research on the relationship between economic downturns and child and youth development. It also discusses theoretical perspectives linking economic downturns to child development through the family’s emotional and behavioral processes, on one hand, and family investments of time and money, on the other. The evidence from existing studies of parental job loss, residential moves, income instability, and financial strain suggests that the Great Recession may ultimately have negative effe...
TL;DR: The authors provides a brief overview of key trends in the survey research to address the nonresponse challenge, including efforts to develop new quality measures and to combine several data sources to enhance either the data collection process or the quality of resulting survey estimates.
Abstract: This article provides a brief overview of key trends in the survey research to address the nonresponse challenge. Noteworthy are efforts to develop new quality measures and to combine several data sources to enhance either the data collection process or the quality of resulting survey estimates. Mixtures of survey data collection modes and less burdensome survey designs are additional steps taken by survey researchers to address nonresponse.
TL;DR: More late-career workers experienced job loss than in previous recessions, often with long jobless spells, encouraging a record number of early Social Security retirement claims and disability applications as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Great Recession had a profound effect on the retirement security of older Americans, and the slow recovery from the downturn will have a lasting impact on their quality of life. The nature of today’s retirement system left older households exposed to the collapse in the equity and housing markets and induced many to plan for a later retirement. More late-career workers experienced job loss than in previous recessions, often with long jobless spells, encouraging a record number of early Social Security retirement claims and disability applications. Going forward, workers who lost a job can expect lower earnings and more instability and, potentially, poorer health. Even households that avoided job loss will have less money available for spending in retirement due to low interest rates and reduced home values. These findings emphasize the importance of Social Security as income insurance and the need for a more robust retirement income system.
TL;DR: The U.S. prison and jail population has grown fivefold in the 40 years since the early 1970s, and the aggregate consequences of the growth in the penal system are widely claimed but have not been closely studied as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The U.S. prison and jail population has grown fivefold in the 40 years since the early 1970s. The aggregate consequences of the growth in the penal system are widely claimed but have not been closely studied. We survey evidence for the aggregate relationship among the incarceration rate, employment rates, single-parenthood, public opinion, and crime. Employment among very low-skilled men has declined with rising incarceration. Punitive sentiment in public opinion has also softened as imprisonment increased. Single-parenthood and crime rates, however, are not systematically related to incarceration. We conclude with a discussion of the conceptual and empirical challenges that come with assessing the aggregate effects of mass incarceration on American poverty.
TL;DR: For example, in 2008, the president's party was punished at the polls for the dismal state of the election-year economy, and the successful challenger, Barack Obama, pushed policy significantly to the Left, as Democratic presidents typically do, provoking a predictable "thermostatic" shift to the Right in the public's policy mood as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: America’s political response to the Great Recession was surprising to pundits but mostly consistent with patterns familiar to political scientists. Ordinary citizens assessed politicians and policies primarily on the basis of visible evidence of success or failure. Thus, in 2008, the president’s party was punished at the polls for the dismal state of the election-year economy. The successful challenger, Barack Obama, pushed policy significantly to the Left, as Democratic presidents typically do, provoking a predictable “thermostatic” shift to the Right in the public’s policy mood. In 2010, slow economic recovery and public qualms about ideological overreach exacerbated the losses normally suffered by a president’s party in midterm elections. In 2012, Obama was reelected—as incumbents almost always are when their party has held the White House for just four years—thanks in part to a modest but timely upturn in the income growth rate.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the relationship between transnationalism and community building by examining Chinese ethnic organizations in the United States and found that immigrants often engage their ancestral homelands via organizations and that organizational trans-nationalism contributes to strengthen communities.
Abstract: An emergent literature on transnationalism has been burgeoning since the 1990s to examine new patterns of immigrant settlement. Research to date has emphasized the effects of transnationalism on the development in sending countries rather than receiving countries, focused on immigrant groups from Latin America rather than Asia, and examined individuals rather than immigrant organizations as units of analysis. As a consequence, we do not have reliable knowledge about the impacts of transnationalism on immigrant communities in the host society and the extent and sources of intergroup variations. To fill this gap and to supplement knowledge gained from Latin American experiences, this article offers a conceptual framework for analyzing the relationship between transnationalism and community building by examining Chinese ethnic organizations in the United States. We show that immigrants often engage their ancestral homelands via organizations and that organizational transnationalism contributes to strengtheni...
TL;DR: The most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Great Recession lasted from December 2007 through June 2009, with both gross domestic product (GDP) and the number of jobs declining by about 6 percent and median family incomes by about 8 percent as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: T Great Recession, as officially dated by the National Bureau of Economic Research, lasted from December 2007 through June 2009.1 It was the most severe recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, with both gross domestic product (GDP) and the number of jobs declining by about 6 percent and median family incomes by about 8 percent. It lasted longer (18 months) than any recent recession and was precipitated by a collapse in housing values and stock prices that negatively affected the economic well-being and security of most U.S. families. Although the recession officially ended four years ago, the economy has yet to fully recover. In July 2013, the national unemployment rate was 7.4 percent, below the October 2009 peak rate of 10.0 percent, but well above the prerecession November 2007 rate of 4.7 percent.2 These monthly, point-in-time unemployment rates understate the percentage of workers who experienced any unemployment during the Great Recession era. That is, in any month, some of the unemployed find new jobs while other workers are laid off, so the number experiencing unemployment increases over time even if the flows into and out of jobs leave the unemployment rate unchanged. Farber (2011) documents, that 16 percent of all workers experienced a job loss at some time during the
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors described trends for Chinese young adults' pathways into adulthood for birth cohorts that have experienced distinct historical events over the past half century and examined factors that shape young adults’ transitioning behavior.
Abstract: This article aims to (1) describe trends for Chinese young adults’ pathways into adulthood for birth cohorts that have experienced distinct historical events over the past half century and (2) examine factors that shape young adults’ transitioning behavior. We draw data from the 2005 to 2008 Chinese General Social Survey. In contrast to the increasingly protracted trend seen in many Western societies, the more recent Chinese cohorts transitioned to marriage and parenthood sooner than those who grew up during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The economic and education reforms since the late 1970s have greatly increased urban-rural disparity in youths’ life trajectories despite their generally positive impact on young adults’ educational attainment and economic well-being. While near-universal marriage and childbearing within marriage prevail and son preference remains strong in modern China, evidence suggests that today’s young Chinese are exploring new pathways to adulthood, including c...
TL;DR: This article explored the lessons of family change in the West for emerging patterns of change in East and Southeast Asia, especially for the transition to adulthood, and identified some of the reasons for this variation, including economic, cultural, and institutional, that account for the varied regimes of early adulthood and speculate how they may impact different Asian countries, owing to historical, cultural and institutional patterns.
Abstract: This article explores the lessons of family change in the West for emerging patterns of change in East and Southeast Asia, especially for the transition to adulthood. This passage has become more protracted and less predictable in Western nations. There is also a great deal of variation in the patterning of the adult transition in different nations in Europe and the Anglo-speaking nations. I identify some of the reasons for this variation—economic, cultural, and institutional—that account for the varied regimes of early adulthood and speculate how they may impact different Asian countries, owing to historical, cultural, and institutional patterns.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the latest marriage behavior among Japanese women from 1993 to 2008, focusing on the relationship between women's economic emancipation and marriage in a gender-traditional society, and showed that the effects of women's earnings have reversed, and are now in fact positive in the 1970s cohort.
Abstract: Japan is one of a few developed countries in which marriage and higher earning potential among women are negatively associated. Previous studies have suggested that a traditional gender division of labor is at the root of this negative relationship, but this study suggests that the relationship is changing. In this article, I examine the latest marriage behavior among Japanese women from 1993 to 2008, focusing on the relationship between women’s economic emancipation and marriage in a gender-traditional society. Using the longest panel survey available in Japan, this study first demonstrates that the effects of women’s earnings have reversed, and are now in fact positive in the 1970s cohort. This suggests that Japanese marriage behaviors now resemble more than in the past those of Western countries, where wives’ economic contributions to the family are considered important. I argue that changes in young adults’ gender ideology have been the major force in facilitating this shift.
TL;DR: The authors argue that a range of institutional actors (including developers, property management, community-based organizations, and the housing autonomy authority) are involved in the mixed-income component of Chicago's Plan for Transformation.
Abstract: Much contemporary policy seeking to address the problems of urban poverty and the failures of public housing focuses on deconcentrating poverty through the relocation of public housing residents to less-poor neighborhoods or by replacing large public housing complexes with mixed-income developments. Lying behind these efforts is a set of generally integrationist goals, aiming to remove public housing residents from contexts of isolation and concentrated disadvantage and settle them in safer, healthier, and more supportive environments that better connect them to resources, relationships, and opportunities. Although some of the goals of these efforts are being met, the broader integrationist goals are proving elusive. Focusing on the mixed-income component of Chicago’s Plan for Transformation—the most ambitious effort to remake public housing in the country—this article argues that a range of institutional actors (including developers, property management, community-based organizations, and the housing aut...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the following three themes: migration in the context of transitions to adulthood, including schooling, employment, and family formation; consequences of migration for health, reproductive outcomes, and childbearing; and migration strategies and consequences.
Abstract: The articles in this volume address the following three themes: (1) migration in the context of transitions to adulthood, including schooling, employment, and family formation; (2) consequences of migration for health, reproductive outcomes, and childbearing; and (3) migration strategies and consequences. The articles demonstrate the diversity of situations of youth migration, transitions to adulthood, and the contexts in which they occur across developing countries. For some adolescents and young adults, migration brings with it serious risks and often negative consequences, while for others it opens horizons and is associated with expanding opportunities in both the social and economic spheres.
TL;DR: This paper identified the emergence of a new, distinct stage of life, referred to as early adulthood, which is characterized by a later entry into the work force, a longer period of time living in the natal home, and a delayed age at marriage and childbearing.
Abstract: ANNALS, AAPSS, 646 March 2013 I the past decade or so, scholars in the United States have identified the emergence of a new, distinct stage of life, as adolescence has become protracted, and most young people of recent generations take longer to achieve economic and psychological autonomy than they did a half century ago (Booth, Crouter, and Shanahan 1999; Arnett 2000; Settersten, Furstenberg, and Rumbaut 2005; Berlin, Furstenberg, and Waters 2010; Furstenberg 2010; Settersten and Ray 2010). This new life stage, in between adolescence and adulthood when young people are in a semiautonomous state, has come to be known as “early adulthood.” Main characteristics of this new life stage include a later entry into the work force, a longer period of time living in the natal home, and a delayed age at marriage and childbearing. These trends not only have profound implications 470794ANNXXX10.1177/0002716212470794 The Annals of the American AcademyTransitioning to Adulthood in Asia 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used prisoner self-report surveys from 2002 and 2004 to examine characteristics of the prison and jail populations in the United States and assess why so many drug-involved offenders are incarcerated.
Abstract: Drug courts have been widely praised as an important tool for reducing prison and jail populations by diverting drug-involved offenders into treatment rather than incarceration. Yet only a small share of offenders presenting with drug abuse or dependence are processed in drug courts. This study uses inmate self-report surveys from 2002 and 2004 to examine characteristics of the prison and jail populations in the United States and assess why so many drug-involved offenders are incarcerated. Our analysis shows that four factors have prevented drug courts from substantially lowering the flow into prisons and jails. In descending order of importance, these are: drug courts’ tight eligibility requirements, specific sentencing requirements, legal consequences of program noncompliance, and constraints in drug court capacity and funding. Drug courts will only be able to help lower prison and jail populations if substantial changes are made in eligibility and sentencing rules.
TL;DR: This paper examined the experiences of, expectations of, and perceptions about adolescent migration from different perspectives, taking into account their gender and generation, and found that female migration is a personal project and includes strong expectations about learning and obtaining life skills.
Abstract: Labor migration has become common for adolescents in many African populations, where it is a key event in the transition into adulthood for both genders. This article examines the experiences of, expectations of, and perceptions about adolescent migration from different perspectives, taking into account their gender and generation. It is based on qualitative data, collected from a rural population in Mali, where labor migration is experienced by most adolescents (70–90 percent). Despite a convergence of migratory practices between genders, the subjective experience and the social construction around youth migration appear to be in contrast for girls and boys. Male migration is part of family economics, and adolescent boys use migration to strengthen their family status. Female migration is a personal project and includes strong expectations about learning and obtaining life skills. Social judgment of female migration is negative, but new lines of solidarity are emerging between female generations.
TL;DR: In response to social and technological trends, rates of survey nonresponse have risen markedly in recent years, prompting observers to worry about the continued validity of surveys as a tool for data gathering as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Surveys are the principal source of data not only for social science, but for consumer research, political polling, and federal statistics. In response to social and technological trends, rates of survey nonresponse have risen markedly in recent years, prompting observers to worry about the continued validity of surveys as a tool for data gathering. This introductory article sets the stage for the comprehensive review that follows of the causes and consequences of nonresponse for survey data and the approaches that have been developed to address it.
TL;DR: The authors explored correlates of the socioeconomic integration of young rural-urban migrants in a host society in China using a new typology that distinguishes hukou (household registration system), migration status, and age.
Abstract: This article explores correlates of the socioeconomic integration of young rural-urban migrants in a host society in China. Using a new typology that distinguishes hukou (household registration system), migration status, and age, multilevel modeling results indicate that young rural-urban migrants achieve a lower socioeconomic status than local youths and urban-urban migratory youths. This challenges the notion that marketization necessarily promotes rights and legal equality in a linear fashion and suggests that the potentially positive impact of migration on personal development might be compromised by institutional constraints (e.g., hukou) that exclude migrants from rural areas, as well as other outsiders, particularly youths.