《关于跨境婚姻的经济学分析》

Hypergamy, Cross-boundary Marriages, and Family Behavior

主讲人：易君健 教授 新加坡国立大学经济系

时间地点：图书馆报告厅 5月8日周五上午9:00-11:00

主讲人简介

Ph.D., Economics (2007-2011), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)

Postdoctoral Scholar (2011-2014), Department of Economics, University of Chicago

Assistant Professor, (2014 - ), Department of Economics, National University of Singapore

Research Interests

Labor and Demographic Economics; Economic Development; Economics on Human Capital; Chinese Economy

内容简介

In this paper, we study cross-boundary marriages. We characterize the assignment profiles and utility shares in a simple two-marriage-market model with cross-boundary marriage costs. Because of gender asymmetry in evaluating individual attributes in the marriage market, more men from rich regions marry women from poor regions than the opposite match, displaying a geographic manifestation of hypergamy. With a decrease in cross-boundary marriage costs, the increase in gender-asymmetric cross-boundary marriages erodes the relative position of women in rich regions not only in the marriage market but also within the household. This theoretical prediction is supported by our empirical analysis based on the cross-boundary marriages between mainland China and Hong Kong (HK). Using the quasi-experiments brought about by the 1997 handover of HK to mainland China and the discrete quota changes of the one-way permit, we find that HK women's position in the marriage market has weakened, HK women work more, and more HK women than men migrate to North America.