Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

9-2024

Abstract

We show that, conditional on family size, rural boys and girls are equally likely to migrate with parents in China. Nevertheless, daughters’ migration may still be compromised because they tend to have more siblings in societies with strong son preference, and larger families are more likely to leave all children behind. We find that a one unit increase in sibship size decreases the probability that a daughter migrates by 12.5 percentage points—with stronger effects when migration restrictions are more stringent—but has negligible effects on sons. The results suggest that gender-neutral migration constraints may generate gendered family size trade-offs.

Keywords

Child migration, family size trade-offs, son preference, parental investment

Discipline

Family, Life Course, and Society | Growth and Development | Income Distribution

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

52

Embargo Period

5-30-2024

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

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