Young Women in Cities

Yumi Koh, Jing Li, Yifan Wu, Junjian Yi and Hanzhe Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Yumi Koh: University of Seoul
Jing Li: Singapore Management University
Yifan Wu: Shanghai University

No 16353, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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: labor market; gender imbalance; migration; urbanization; marriage market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2023-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-gen, nep-lab, nep-sea and nep-ure
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Published - published as 'Young women in cities:published as 'Young women in cities: Urbanization and gender-biased migration' in: Journal of Development Economics, 2025, 172, 103378

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