Work

The Rising of Chinese Women’ College Education: The Effect of Parents’ Daughter Preference on Women’ College Education—Evidence from the College Stopping Enrollment

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: Economic factors have been well documented in literature to determine parents’ gender preference and resource allocations between boys and girls. This paper shows that non-economic factors matter using a policy shock in 1966 that the Chinese government stopped the recruitment in college education. Using the Census 2000 data, we employ a difference-in-difference (DD) method and an DDD method to show that girls, whose parents are more likely to be affected by the policy that deprives them of the chance to go to college, are more likely to obtain the college education. As for the mechanism, we argue that the opportunity to make up for the human capital loss shapes parents’ preference for sons over girls and thus parents allocate more resources to girls when girls can make up for their regrets. Our findings offer new insights into the causes of the rise of women in college education in China.

Source: 经济学报.

DOI: 10.26599/cje.2022.9300211

Authors: Changhong Li, Wenlian Lin

Institutions: Jinan University, Jinan University, University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Language: English

Topic: Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Quality education

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W4410176014