Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2025

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three chapters that investigate the trade-offs between the quantity and quality of children, as well as trade-offs between female labor supply and family formation.

The first chapter investigates how family size shapes child migration in China, where most rural families have at least two children, and nearly 50% of children have migrant parents. We propose a model showing that, conditional on family size, boys and girls are equally likely to migrate with parents to cities. However, in societies with strong son preference, daughters' migration may still be constrained as they tend to have more siblings, and larger families are more likely to leave all children behind. Using a nationwide sample of adult migrant households with children born after China's ban on ultrasound-based prenatal sex screening, we test these predictions with a twin-based instrumental variable strategy. We find that an additional sibling reduces the likelihood of a daughter migrating by 12.5 percentage points, while sons remain unaffected. These effects are more pronounced under stricter migration restrictions. The results are robust to extensive sensitivity checks, including bounding family size effects by relaxing the exclusion restriction. Our findings reveal that ostensibly gender-neutral migration constraints can create gendered trade-offs in rural-to-urban child migration, driven by family size and son-biased fertility preferences. This chapter provides novel evidence on a unique measure of parental investment in children, shedding light on how gender inequality may stem from indirect gender discrimination in contexts with strict migration policies.

The second chapter analyzes low birth rates across high-income economies from an institutional perspective, with a particular focus on East Asian societies in comparison to Western OECD economies. We begin by compiling economy-level data on fertility and labor supply in Eastern societies and Western economies. We then document three cross-sectional stylized facts on labor supply and family formation. First, female labor force participation (FLFP) and total fertility rates (TFRs) are much lower in Eastern societies compared to Western economies. Second, labor hours and the gender pay gap are much higher in the East than in the West. Third, parents invest more in schooling in Eastern societies compared to Western economies. Finally, we provide explanations for the stylized facts from an institutional perspective. Specifically, with some suggestive descriptive evidence, we conjecture that the patterns of lower fertility and lower FLFP in the East economies could be explained by three distinctive social institutions in East Asia: child quality mores, gender norms, and labor market institutions.

The third chapter builds on the question explored in the previous chapter but further introduces a formal framework to incorporate the social institutions of interests, and structurally analyzes the potential role of each social institution. Specifically, to account for the features and conjectures provided in the previous chapter, we develop and estimate a heterogeneous-agent model with endogenous marriage, fertility, labor supply, and time and money investment in children. Structural estimates using data from South Korea and the United States highlight the importance of gender norms and long work hours practices in driving down FLFP while child quality mores drive down fertility in South Korea. Our results suggest that a multi-pronged policy approach or reductions in the gender pay gap may help boost both FLFP and fertility in East Asia.

Keywords

Child Migration, Female Labor Supply, Fertility, Child Quality, Gender Norms

Degree Awarded

PhD in Economics

Discipline

Labor Economics

Supervisor(s)

HO CHAN FOONG, Marie Christine

First Page

1

Last Page

165

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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