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No time to look after the kids: The unintended consequences of export expansion on child health

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  • Lihua Dai
  • Qi Fan
  • Yanyun Li
  • Faqin Lin

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the effect of export expansion on the health of children under the age of 6 years in China. Using the CHNS survey, we exploit trade exposure variation among regions after China's entry into the WTO to construct a difference‐in‐differences and instrumental variable identification. We show that 1% increase in export expansion over GDP share exacerbates child' illness rates by 0.6%, and the effect is more pronounced for less educated parents. The increasing workloads and having less time to look after the child account for the increasing illness rates, especially for mothers.

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  • Lihua Dai & Qi Fan & Yanyun Li & Faqin Lin, 2021. "No time to look after the kids: The unintended consequences of export expansion on child health," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 527-548, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ectrin:v:29:y:2021:i:3:p:527-548
    DOI: 10.1111/ecot.12279
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