Young women in cities

Author

Yumi KOH, University of Seoul
Li JING, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Yifan WU, Shanghai Trust
Junjian YI, Peking University
Hanzhe ZHANG, Michigan State University

Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

7-2023

Abstract

Young women outnumber young men in cities in many countries during periods of economic growth and urbanization. This gender imbalance among young urbanites is more pronounced in larger cities. We use the gradual rollout of special economic zones across China as a quasi-experiment to establish the causes of this gender imbalance. Our analysis suggests that a key contributor is gender-differential incentives to migrate due to rural women’s higher likelihood of marrying and marrying up in cities when urbanization creates more economic opportunities and an abundance of high-income marriage-age men.

Keywords

Urbanization, migration, gender imbalance, labor market, marriage market

Discipline

Asian Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Labor Economics | Urban Studies

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

47

Publisher

SMU Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series, Paper No. 10-2023

City or Country

Singapore

Citation

KOH, Yumi; JING, Li; WU, Yifan; YI, Junjian; and ZHANG, Hanzhe. Young women in cities. (2023). 1-47.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2686

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Comments

Published in Journal of Development Economics (2025) 172, DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103378