Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114100 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9214
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper first finds a clear pattern of child gender difference in family migration in China. Specifically, our estimates show that on average, the first child being a son increases the father's migration probability by 25.2 percent. We hypothesize that the family's competitive earning incentive for sons drives this child gender effect on family migration: parents migrate to earn more money in an attempt to improve their sons' relative standing in response to the ever-rising pressure in China's marriage market. This competitive-earning-incentive hypothesis is then supported by additional empirical evidence. We further find that, facing heavier financial pressure from the marriage market, parents spend less on their sons' education and more on marriage and buying houses and durable goods. This gender difference in resource allocation, together with the absentee-father problem resulting from paternal migration, may unexpectedly adversely affect boys' long-run human capital development in China.
Subjects: 
competitive earning incentive
sex ratio
migration
JEL: 
J11
J13
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
504.32 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.