Revolution and Family in Rural China: Influence of Family Background on Current Family Wealth

Hiroshi Sato () and Shi Li ()

No 3223, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the influence of family human capital on offspring’s economic status in post reform rural China by concentrating on the father-son relationship. We focus on two indicators of family background: family class origin (jiating chengfen) and occupational experience. The results of a family wealth function for 2002 suggest that, after controlling for other individual and family characteristics, both measures of family background have a significant influence on family wealth. First, parental experience of a nonagricultural family business before collectivization has a positive and statistically significant effect on current family wealth. Second, the offspring of landlord/rich peasant and middle peasant families are more likely to have higher family wealth than poor and lower-middle peasant families. We also find cohort and regional differences in the influence of family background. Our findings suggest that the strength and robustness of the Chinese rural family as a cultural institution preserves family human capital across radical institutional changes.

Keywords: family human capital; family background; intergenerational correlation; distribution of wealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J24 N35 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2007-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-hrm, nep-soc and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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