Social Norms and the Impact of Early Life Events on Gender Inequality

Wei Luo (), Wei Huang () and Albert Park ()
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Wei Luo: Jinan University
Wei Huang: Peking University
Albert Park: Asian Development Bank

No 738, ADB Economics Working Paper Series from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: We study the influence of social norms in determining the impact of early life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961 on gender inequality. We model how social norms interact with adverse shocks to affect male and female survival chances and influence subsequent human capital investments. We test these predictions empirically by using the Fifth National Population Census of the People’s Republic of China in 2000 that has information on birthplace and estimate a difference-in-differences model that combines cohort and regional variation in exposure to the famine with regional variation in the culture of son preference. We find that son preference buffers the negative impact of intrauterine famine shocks on cohort male-to-female sex ratios and reduces famine’s impact on gender inequality in health and education.

Keywords: famine; son preference; sex ratios; human capital investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I26 J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2024-08-16
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-evo, nep-gen, nep-hea, nep-his, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbewp:0738

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