How does mining policy affect rural migration of Mongolia?

• Amartuvshin, Amarjargal ^[1] ; Chen, Jiquan ^[2] ; John, Ranjeet ^[3] ; Zhang, Yaoqi ^[4] ; Lkhagvaa, Dansranbavuu ^[5]
  1. [1] University of the Humanities

     University of the Humanities

     Mongolia

     
  2. [2] Michigan State University

     Michigan State University

     City of East Lansing, Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] University of South Dakota

     University of South Dakota

     City of Vermillion, Estados Unidos

     
  4. [4] Auburn University

     Auburn University

     Estados Unidos

     
  5. [5] Department of Business and Economics, Mandakh University, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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• Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 107, 2021
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The mining sector has served as a main pillar of the economy in Mongolia during both the socialist period prior to 1991 and the current free market economy. The government conversion of pastoral areas to mine extraction aggressively increased after 1990, with the assumption that mining activity would support the local labor market and boost the local economy, thereby attracting more migrants. Following a conceptual framework of the changes in rural and urban populations in Mongolia using the 2010 workforce survey data, we constructed dprobit models to empirically examine migrations among non-mine soums, urban places, and mine soums. Income was hypothesized as a dominant factor for migration. We found that income is not the leading factor in migration decisions and mine soums are not attractive places for migrants, whereas non-mine soums become less attractive. Both Ulaanbaatar, a capital city, and Erdenet, a huge mine during the socialist-era, remain attractive places for migration. Finally, new mining sectors appear to not improve employment among local herding communities.