Young women in cities: Urbanization and gender-biased migration

Author

Yumi KOH, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Li JING, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Yifan WU
Junjian YI
Hanzhe ZHANG

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

1-2025

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 causal impact of urbanization on gender-differentiated incentives to migrate. We highlight the role of the marriage market in increasing rural women’s chance of marrying and marrying up in urban areas during rapid urbanization.

Keywords

Gender imbalance, Marriage market, Migration, Urbanization

Discipline

Asian Studies | Demography, Population, and Ecology | Labor Economics | Urban Studies

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

Journal of Development Economics

Volume

172

First Page

1

Last Page

13

ISSN

0304-3878

Identifier

10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103378

Publisher

Elsevier

Citation

KOH, Yumi; JING, Li; WU, Yifan; YI, Junjian; and ZHANG, Hanzhe. Young women in cities: Urbanization and gender-biased migration. (2025). Journal of Development Economics. 172, 1-13.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2768

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.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103378