Understanding urbanization and its impact on the livelihood levels of urban residents in Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia

This paper took Ulaanbaatar as a case study and selected data from 2002 to 2016 to understand the complex relationship between urbanization and the livelihood levels of urban residents. The results showed that the urbanization of Ulaanbaatar was fast unfolding, while the livelihood levels of urban residents were not simultaneously improved but were in a state of constant fluctuation. A distributed lag model was conducted to investigate the impact of urbanization on the livelihood levels of urban residents. The results confirmed that urbanization has an obvious lag effect on livelihood levels, and with the urbanization development, it could improve public services and labor wages at a lag of 3 years, better healthcare at a lag of 2, 3, and 4 years, increase healthcare and cultural services at a lag of 2 years, and gradually improve the residents’ livelihood levels in the long run. We concluded with an overview of how our analysis can offer useful insights to policy makers and urban planners.