School Seminar | Trade Policy, Migration Restrictions, and Gender Inequality: The Story of China’s Left-Behind Children by Mushfiq Mobarak
School of Economics
Invites you to a
School seminar presented by
(Yale University)
Trade Policy, Migration Restrictions, and Gender Inequality:
The Story of China’s Left-Behind Children
Co-authors:
Xuwen Gao – Zhejiang University
Wenquan Liang – Jinan University
Ran Song – National University of Singapore
Monday 9 October 2023
11.00am – 12.30pm
Level 6 Seminar Room (650)
A02 Social Sciences Building
Camperdown Campus
The University of Sydney NSW 2006
China’s accession to the WTO created new economic opportunities in certain cities. Residents of adjacent rural areas migrated into those cities and advanced economically. Longitudinal panel data reveals that their daughters suffer worse mental and physical health, complete fewer years of schooling, and remain poor. We show that migrant parents are more likely to separate from daughters than sons. The gender gap in housework increases when a parent leaves. Parents
send significantly less remittances back to daughters than sons. We use census data to investigate the scale of separation, and policies responsible. 11% of the Chinese population are rural-urban migrants with a rural hukou that severely restricts their children’s access to urban schools. As a result, 69 million children are left behind in rural areas. Triple difference designs based on school
enrollment age cutoffs and a 2014 policy that more severely restricted migrants’ access to schooling reveal that migrants become discontinuously more likely to leave middle-school-aged daughters (but not sons) behind in poor rural areas without either parent present exactly when schooling becomes expensive and restricted. The effect is larger when the daughter has a male sibling. Although China’s hukou mobility restrictions are not gender-specific in intent, they produce larger adverse effects on girls.
For further information contact: School seminar series coordinators
Alastair Fraser (alastair.fraser@sydney.edu.au) & Brendan Beare (brendan.beare@sydney.edu.au)
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