Children’s gender and parents’ long-term care arrangements: evidence from China

Huasheng Gao, Rui Li, Jianhong Shen and Huiting Yang

Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 57, issue 13, 1510-1525

Abstract: There has been a puzzle in China that despite the increasingly ageing population in recent years, the demand for nursing homes continues to decline. This paper provides a new explanation of this puzzle from the perspective of children’s gender composition. Using the gender of the firstborn child as an exogenous variable, we find that having a male firstborn child significantly reduces the willingness of parents to live in nursing homes for long-term care. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that parents with only one child and those living in rural areas or areas with a high number of scandals related to nursing homes are more likely to be negatively affected. Mechanism analysis reveals two channels for this effect: traditional beliefs and children’s economic capabilities.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2313594

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