IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v127y2016i2d10.1007_s11205-015-0981-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

China’s Marriage Squeeze: A Decomposition into Age and Sex Structure

Author

Listed:
  • Quanbao Jiang

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Xiaomin Li

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Shuzhuo Li

    (Xi’an Jiaotong University)

  • Marcus W. Feldman

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

Most recent studies of marriage patterns in China have emphasized the male-biased sex ratio but have largely neglected age structure as a factor in China’s male marriage squeeze. In this paper we develop an index we call “spousal sex ratio” to measure the marriage squeeze, and a method of decomposing the proportion of male surplus into age and sex structure effects within a small spousal age difference interval. We project that China’s marriage market will be confronted with a relatively severe male squeeze. For the decomposition of the cohort aged 30, from 2010 to 2020 age structure will be dominant, while from 2020 through 2034 the contribution of age structure will gradually decrease and that of sex structure will increase. From then on, sex structure will be dominant. The index and decomposition, concentrated on a specific female birth cohort, can distinguish spousal competition for single cohorts which may be covered by a summary index for the whole marriage market; these can also be used for consecutive cohorts to reflect the situation of the whole marriage market.

Suggested Citation

  • Quanbao Jiang & Xiaomin Li & Shuzhuo Li & Marcus W. Feldman, 2016. "China’s Marriage Squeeze: A Decomposition into Age and Sex Structure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 793-807, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:127:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-015-0981-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-0981-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-015-0981-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-015-0981-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald Akers, 1967. "On Measuring the Marriage Squeeze," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 4(2), pages 907-924, June.
    2. Zhongwei Zhao & Wei Chen, 2011. "China’s far below replacement fertility and its long-term impact: Comments on the preliminary results of the 2010 census," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(26), pages 819-836.
    3. Yong Cai, 2013. "China's New Demographic Reality: Learning from the 2010 Census," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 371-396, September.
    4. David Lam & Letícia Marteleto, 2008. "Stages of the Demographic Transition from a Child's Perspective: Family Size, Cohort Size, and Children's Resources," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 34(2), pages 225-252, June.
    5. Catherine Tucker & Jennifer Van Hook, 2013. "Surplus Chinese Men: Demographic Determinants of the Sex Ratio at Marriageable Ages in China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 209-229, June.
    6. Quanbao Jiang & Marcus Feldman & Shuzhuo Li, 2014. "Marriage Squeeze, Never-Married Proportion, and Mean Age at First Marriage in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 189-204, April.
    7. H. Muhsam, 1974. "The marriage squeeze," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 11(2), pages 291-299, May.
    8. Christophe Guilmoto, 2012. "Skewed Sex Ratios at Birth and Future Marriage Squeeze in China and India, 2005–2100," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 77-100, February.
    9. Quanbao Jiang & Shuzhuo Li & Marcus Feldman, 2011. "Demographic Consequences of Gender Discrimination in China: Simulation Analysis of Policy Options," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(4), pages 619-638, August.
    10. Robert Schoen, 1983. "Measuring the tightness of a marriage squeeze," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 20(1), pages 61-78, February.
    11. Christophe Z. Guilmoto, 2009. "The Sex Ratio Transition in Asia," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 519-549, September.
    12. Charles Hirschman & Judah Matras, 1971. "A new look at the marriage market and nuptiality rates, 1915–1958," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 8(4), pages 549-569, November.
    13. Monica Das Gupta & Woojin Chung & Li Shuzhuo, 2009. "Evidence for an Incipient Decline in Numbers of Missing Girls in China and India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 401-416, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Zhongliang & Weng, Wenguo, 2020. "Analysis of geographical migration networks of bride trafficking crime from 2000 to 2018 in China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 550(C).
    2. Sasa Wang & Xueyan Yang & Lisa Eklund, 2022. "Discrimination and Quality of Life Among Marriage-Squeezed Men in Rural China: Unexpected Functions of Structural and Functional Social Support," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 885-905, February.
    3. Wang, Qingbin & Zou, Yang & Fan, Dan, 2019. "Gender imbalance in China’s marriage migration: Quantitative evidence and policy implications," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 406-414.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wanru Xiong, 2022. "Dynamics between Regional Sex Ratios at Birth and Sex Ratios at Prime Marriageable Ages in China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(2), pages 545-578, June.
    2. Quanbao Jiang & Marcus Feldman & Shuzhuo Li, 2014. "Marriage Squeeze, Never-Married Proportion, and Mean Age at First Marriage in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(2), pages 189-204, April.
    3. Giulia Corti & Stefani Scherer, 2021. "Mating Market and Dynamics of Union Formation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 851-876, November.
    4. Aradhana Kumari & Srinivas Goli, 2022. "Skewed child sex ratios in India: a revisit to geographical patterns and socio-economic correlates," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 45-72, March.
    5. Aycan, Çelikaksoy & Lena, Nekby & Saman, Rashid, 2009. "Assortative Mating by Ethnic Background and Education in Sweden: The Role of Parental Composition on Partner Choice," SULCIS Working Papers 2009:7, Stockholm University, Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
    6. Zhen Zhang & Qiang Li, 2020. "Population aging caused by a rise in the sex ratio at birth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(32), pages 969-992.
    7. Alexander Stimpfle & David Stadelmann, 2016. "Does Central Europe Import the Missing Women Phenomenon?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2016-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    8. Albert Esteve & Coro Chasco & Antonio López-Gay, 2022. "Modeling Local Variations in Intermarriage," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Charles Yuji Horioka & Akiko Terada-Hagiwara, 2016. "The Impact of Pre-marital Sex Ratios on Household Saving in Two Asian Countries: The Competitive Saving Motive Revisited," ISER Discussion Paper 0975, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    10. Keera Allendorf, 2012. "Like daughter, like son? Fertility decline and the transformation of gender systems in the family," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(16), pages 429-454.
    11. Anderson, K.S., 2000. "Why the Marriage Squeeze Cannot Cause Dowry Inflation," Discussion Paper 2000-86, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Olga Shemyakina, 2009. "The Marriage Market and Tajik Armed Conflict," HiCN Working Papers 66, Households in Conflict Network.
    13. Ding, Weili & Zhang, Yuan, 2014. "When a son is born: The impact of fertility patterns on family finance in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 192-208.
    14. Scott South & Katherine Trent & Sunita Bose, 2014. "Skewed Sex Ratios and Criminal Victimization in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1019-1040, June.
    15. Boumezoued, Alexandre & Hardy, Héloïse Labit & El Karoui, Nicole & Arnold, Séverine, 2018. "Cause-of-death mortality: What can be learned from population dynamics?," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 301-315.
    16. Quanbao Jiang & Ying Li & Jesús Sánchez-Barricarte, 2016. "Fertility Intention, Son Preference, and Second Childbirth: Survey Findings from Shaanxi Province of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 935-953, February.
    17. Valentine Becquet & Nicolás Sacco & Ignacio Pardo, 2022. "Disparities in Gender Preference and Fertility: Southeast Asia and Latin America in a Comparative Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1295-1323, June.
    18. Anna‐Maria Aksan, 2022. "Son preference and the demographic transition," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 32-56, February.
    19. Charles Yuji Horioka & Akiko Terada-Hagiwara, 2017. "The impact of sex ratios before marriage on household saving in two Asian countries: The competitive saving motive revisited," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 739-757, September.
    20. Robert Schoen, 1983. "Measuring the tightness of a marriage squeeze," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 20(1), pages 61-78, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:127:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-015-0981-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.