The motherhood penalty and low fertility in China: a pseudo-event study

Wei Huang (), Yiping Wang (), Hantao Wu () and Yi Zhou
Additional contact information
Wei Huang: National School of Development (NSD), Peking University
Yiping Wang: National School of Development (NSD), Peking University
Hantao Wu: Princeton University

Journal of Population Economics, 2025, vol. 38, issue 1, No 28, 29 pages

Abstract: Abstract Using census data from 2000 to 2015 and a pseudo-event study design, this paper estimates the magnitude, distribution, and trend of the motherhood penalty in China, while examining its relationship with the country’s declining fertility rates. The findings reveal that one-third of working women leave the labor market in the year they give birth, with the penalty persisting for over 8 years. The magnitude of the penalty increased significantly during the study period across most provinces, and regions with larger increases in the penalty experienced sharper declines in fertility rates. A mover-based design analysis shows that when women migrate to provinces with higher motherhood penalties, their fertility rates drop significantly. This study contributes to the literature by applying a novel pseudo-event study approach to cross-sectional data, offering new insights into the interaction between labor market constraints and fertility decisions in a rapidly evolving socio-economic context.

Keywords: Motherhood penalty; Low fertility; Pseudo-event study; Labor market; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 J13 J22 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-025-01078-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:jopoec:v:38:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-025-01078-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... tion/journal/148/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s00148-025-01078-3

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Population Economics is currently edited by K.F. Zimmermann

More articles in Journal of Population Economics from Springer, European Society for Population Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().