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Are China’s “Leftover Women” really leftover? An investigation of marriage market penalties in modern-day China

Author

Listed:
  • Loren Brandt

    (Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada)

  • Hongbin Li

    (Stanford Center on Global Poverty & Development and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University, USA)

  • Laura Turner

    (Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis)

  • Jiaqi Zou

    (Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada)

Abstract

A recent trend in Korea and Japan sees college-graduate women marrying later and at lower rates than less-educated women. In China, “leftover women” have also became a top policy concern. This paper finds, however, that China’s higher-educated urban women attain marital outcomes more like those in the US than in other Asian Tiger countries: marrying later, but ultimately at comparable rates to less-educated women. For 1990-2009, we quantify marriage quality using the classic Choo-Siow (2006) estimator and find large returns to marrying later but minimal direct higher-education effects. Using the Choo (2015) dynamic estimator, we project future marriage rates to continue to rise for higher-educated women relative to their lower-educated peers.

Suggested Citation

  • Loren Brandt & Hongbin Li & Laura Turner & Jiaqi Zou, 2018. "Are China’s “Leftover Women” really leftover? An investigation of marriage market penalties in modern-day China," Working Paper series 18-33, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:rim:rimwps:18-33
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    Cited by:

    1. Ong, David & Yang, Yu (Alan) & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "Hard to get: The scarcity of women and the competition for high-income men in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2021. "Love, life, and “leftover ladies” in urban China: Staying modernly single in patriarchal traditions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East

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