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Family structure and home ownership: Evidence from China

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  • Wang, Shun
  • Zhou, Weina

Abstract

This paper studies how individuals, particularly low-income individuals, have financed housing purchases since the housing market was privatized in urban China in the 1990s. To the surprise of many policy makers and economists, more than 80% of the households in urban China owned private housing by the end of 2010. In contrast to most developed countries, we find that male siblings are important borrowing resources to purchase housing. Conditional on the number of siblings, having more brothers instead of sisters increases the probability of owning housing among male individuals born during the baby boom (1949–1978) in urban China. However, there is no such brother effect for females. The brother effect is stronger for males with low income or low levels of education and is also stronger when brothers are wealthier. Our results are robust to different model specifications. Our results suggest that females are likely to be excluded from family-based informal financial market for housing purchase among baby boom generations in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Shun & Zhou, Weina, 2017. "Family structure and home ownership: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 165-179.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:46:y:2017:i:c:p:165-179
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.09.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Jun Han & Zhong Zhao, 2022. "One‐child policy and marriage market in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 57-84, February.
    2. Niu, Geng & Wang, Qi & Li, Han & Zhou, Yang, 2020. "Number of brothers, risk sharing, and stock market participation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Baiyi Wu & Wenlong Bian & Ying Xue & Hao Zhang, 2021. "Confucian Culture and Homeownership: Evidence from Chinese Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 182-202, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing; Siblings; Gender inequality; Informal financial market; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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