Hidden costs of separation: Exploring the effect of left-behind experiences on financial market participation in China

Chunkai Zhao, Runtao Wang, Boou Chen and Jingrong Li

Emerging Markets Review, 2025, vol. 68, issue C

Abstract: This study examines the effect of childhood left-behind experience (CLBE) on financial market participation in China. We find that the CLBE significantly reduces the likelihood of financial market participation, which is supported by several robustness checks. Mechanism tests show that this negative impact can be explained by human capital loss, earnings penalty effects, and financial accessibility. Further exploration indicates that the greater the CLBE intensity, the more pronounced the negative impact. Worse, the negative effect of CLBE is not eliminated by the subsequent return of parents, and the mitigation effects of digital development are limited.

Keywords: Childhood left-behind experience; Financial market participation; Human capital loss; Earnings penalty effects; Financial accessibility; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G11 G51 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014125000779
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ememar:v:68:y:2025:i:c:s1566014125000779

DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2025.101328

Access Statistics for this article

Emerging Markets Review is currently edited by Jonathan A. Batten

More articles in Emerging Markets Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().