Anmerkungen:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments 12 1, 2020 erstellt
Beschreibung:
Government policies may alter cultural practices that persist in part due to economic incentives. In this paper, I develop a conceptual framework that shows how compulsory schooling affects parental incentives and exacerbates pre-existing son-preferences in China. I make six testable predictions and test these predictions with a difference-in-differences method using China’s 1986 compulsory schooling law (CSL) and 2008 free compulsory schooling law. My empirical results show that the CSL reduces the gender gap in educational achievement, skews the sex ratio toward males, and reduces the fertility rate. The change in the sex ratio is mainly driven by prenatal sex selection and is larger in locations where accessing ultrasound technology is less costly. In addition, where prenatal sex selection is impossible, the CSL leads to relatively higher rates of malnutrition in girls. On the other hand, when schooling is cheaper, the sex ratio increase is reversed and son-preference practice is mitigated. As policy implications, I further explore the pre-law characteristics and show that compulsory schooling with more school resources and higher education returns will reduce the unintended consequences it generates. (JEL Codes: J13,J16,I21,I28.)