Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/114162 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9287
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper uses the natural experiment of a large imbalance between men and women of marriageable age in Taiwan in the 1960s to test the hypothesis that higher sex ratios lead to husbands (wives) having a lower (higher) share of couple's time in leisure and higher (lower) share of the couple's total work time (employment, commuting and housework). A large sample of Taiwanese couples' time diaries from 1987, 1990, and 1994 is used. The analysis finds evidence of the predicted effects of the county-level sex ratio on husbands' and wives' share of leisure and total work time. In addition, the age difference between husbands and wives is shown to be positively correlated with heightened county-level sex ratio a result which is also consistent with the theory that marriage market participants' choices are affected by the prevailing sex ratio.
Subjects: 
sex ratios
time use
time diaries
Taiwan
marriage markets
bargaining power
JEL: 
J12
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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