Munich Personal RePEc Archive Quality of Life in Chinese Cities Shi, Tie and Zhu, Wenzhang and Fu, Shihe Xiamen University, Xiamen University, Xiamen University 12 January 2021 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/105266/ MPRA Paper No. 105266, posted 19 Feb 2021 06:32 UTC Quality of Life in Chinese Cities Tie Shi E-mail:
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[email protected] Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics Xiamen University January 10, 2021 Abstract: The Rosen-Roback spatial equilibrium theory states that cross-city variations in wages and housing prices reflect urban residents’ willingness to pay for urban amenities or quality of life. This paper is the first to quantify and rank the quality of life in Chinese cities based on the Rosen-Roback model. Using the 2005 1% Population Intercensus Survey data, we estimate the wage and housing hedonic models. The coefficients of urban amenity variables in both hedonic models are considered the implicit prices of amenities and are used as the weights to compute the quality of life for each prefecture city in China. In general, provincial capital cities and cities with nice weather, convenient transportation, and better public services have a higher quality of life. We also find that urban quality of life is positively associated with the subjective well-being of urban residents. Key words: Spatial equilibrium, hedonic model, urban amenity, quality of life, life satisfaction JEL Codes: H44, J31, J61, R13, R23, R31 Acknowledgement: We thank Shi Li, Xuewen Li, Shimeng Liu, Minjun Shi, and participants of the 4th China Labor Economics Forum for very helpful comments.