How Do Home Purchase Restrictions Affect Elite Chinese Graduate Students’ Job Search Behavior?

Abstract In this study, we examine how China’s home purchase restrictions (HPR) affect recent graduate students’ job search behavior. Using administrative records of all graduate students from Tsinghua University in China in the period 2006–2016, we find that HPR significantly discourages migrant students from accepting job offers in Beijing by 6.0 percentage points. Additionally, they are more likely to choose jobs in the public sector (where it is easier to obtain residency status and thus be eligible for home purchase), and the job offers they accept are less relevant to their field of study in graduate school. The HPR has a greater effect on male, PhD, and older students. These results suggest that intervention in the housing market could affect labor-market decisions, even for highly skilled workers.