IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v63y2020ics1043951x20301309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Feng
  • Xiao, Jing Jian

Abstract

Some literature observes the negative but not very significant effect of household wealth growth on children's educational outcomes. This surprising finding is not easily reconciled with the traditional explanation that relaxed economic constraints caused by wealth growth can promote human capital accumulation. This paper proposes an alternative explanation for the causal relationship between wealth growth and human capital, which could be negative: individuals tend to reduce human capital investment following the decline in their labor supply induced by wealth growth, given that investing in human capital is mainly for employment competitiveness. This explanation is supported by evidence from the case of urban housing demolition in China, in which affected households could obtain substantial wealth growth by considerable demolition compensation thanks to the real estate boom in China. Specifically, using two nationally representative datasets, we find that Chinese households that have experienced demolition relatively have more wealth, less labor supply, lower propensity to accumulate children's human capital, and consequently, have children with lower educational achievement. These results suggest that China's economy may be losing its momentum because of the decline in labor supply and human capital accumulation brought about by the ongoing large-scale urban housing demolition.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Feng & Xiao, Jing Jian, 2020. "Losing the future: Household wealth from urban housing demolition and children's human capital in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:63:y:2020:i:c:s1043951x20301309
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X20301309
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2020.101533?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph P. Romano & Michael Wolf, 2005. "Stepwise Multiple Testing as Formalized Data Snooping," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1237-1282, July.
    2. Hällsten, Martin & Pfeffer, Fabian T., 2017. "Grand advantage: family wealth and grandchildren's educational achievement in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2017:3, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    3. Mark Hoekstra & Pierre Mouganie & Yaojing Wang, 2018. "Peer Quality and the Academic Benefits to Attending Better Schools," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 841-884.
    4. Gordon B. Dahl & Lance Lochner, 2012. "The Impact of Family Income on Child Achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1927-1956, August.
    5. Li, Lixing & Wu, Xiaoyu, 2014. "Housing price and entrepreneurship in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 436-449.
    6. Xiao, Yun & Li, Li & Zhao, Liqiu, 2017. "Education on the cheap: The long-run effects of a free compulsory education reform in rural china," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 544-562.
    7. de Janvry, Alain & Finan, Frederico & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Vakis, Renos, 2006. "Can conditional cash transfer programs serve as safety nets in keeping children at school and from working when exposed to shocks?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 349-373, April.
    8. Hoyt Bleakley & Joseph Ferrie, 2016. "Shocking Behavior: Random Wealth in Antebellum Georgia and Human Capital Across Generations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(3), pages 1455-1495.
    9. Filmer, Deon & Schady, Norbert, 2011. "Does more cash in conditional cash transfer programs always lead to larger impacts on school attendance?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 150-157, September.
    10. Shujie Yao & Dan Luo & Jianling Wang, 2014. "Housing Development and Urbanisation in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 481-500, March.
    11. Anne Case & Victoria Hosegood & Frances Lund, 2005. "The reach and impact of Child Support Grants: evidence from KwaZulu-Natal," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 467-482.
    12. Lu, Yi & Shi, Xinzheng & Zhong, Songfa, 2018. "Competitive experience and gender difference in risk preference, trust preference and academic performance: Evidence from Gaokao in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1388-1410.
    13. David Cesarini & Erik Lindqvist & Robert Östling & Björn Wallace, 2016. "Wealth, Health, and Child Development: Evidence from Administrative Data on Swedish Lottery Players," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 687-738.
    14. Cai, Dongliang & Song, Quanyun & Ma, Shuang & Dong, Yang & Xu, Qiuhua, 2018. "The relationship between credit constraints and household entrepreneurship in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 246-258.
    15. Michael F. Lovenheim, 2011. "The Effect of Liquid Housing Wealth on College Enrollment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 741-771.
    16. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Chen, Xi & Ge, Suqin, 2018. "Social norms and female labor force participation in urban China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 966-987.
    18. Fu, Shihe & Liao, Yu & Zhang, Junfu, 2016. "The effect of housing wealth on labor force participation: Evidence from China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-69.
    19. Romano, Joseph P. & Wolf, Michael, 2016. "Efficient computation of adjusted p-values for resampling-based stepdown multiple testing," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 38-40.
    20. Michael P. Keane, 2011. "Labor Supply and Taxes: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 961-1075, December.
    21. Joseph P. Romano & Michael Wolf, 2005. "Exact and Approximate Stepdown Methods for Multiple Hypothesis Testing," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 100, pages 94-108, March.
    22. Paul Schultz, T., 2004. "School subsidies for the poor: evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 199-250, June.
    23. Mao, Guangyu & Shen, Yan, 2019. "Bubbles or fundamentals? Modeling provincial house prices in China allowing for cross-sectional dependence," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 53-64.
    24. Fang, Li & Tian, Chuanhao, 2018. "Housing and marital matching: A signaling perspective," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 27-46.
    25. David Cesarini & Erik Lindqvist & Matthew J. Notowidigdo & Robert Östling, 2017. "The Effect of Wealth on Individual and Household Labor Supply: Evidence from Swedish Lotteries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3917-3946, December.
    26. van Huizen, Thomas, 2014. "More wealth, shorter hours? Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 323-326.
    27. Edward Glaeser & Wei Huang & Yueran Ma & Andrei Shleifer, 2017. "A Real Estate Boom with Chinese Characteristics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 93-116, Winter.
    28. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Shi, Xinzheng & Wu, Binzhen, 2012. "Does attending elite colleges pay in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 78-88.
    29. Li, Feng & Xiao, Jing Jian & Cai, Feiying, 2019. "Wealth, labor supply and life satisfaction: The case of urban housing demolition in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-1.
    30. Pan, Jiun-Nan & Huang, Jr-Tsung & Chiang, Tsun-Feng, 2015. "Empirical study of the local government deficit, land finance and real estate markets in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 57-67.
    31. Wrenn, Douglas H. & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Bo, 2019. "House prices and marriage entry in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 118-130.
    32. Zou, Jing & Deng, Xiaojun, 2019. "Financial literacy, housing value and household financial market participation: Evidence from urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 52-66.
    33. Jennifer Day & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Effects of Residential Relocation on Household and Commuting Expenditures in Shanghai, China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 762-788, December.
    34. Yuming Cui & Jingjing Meng & Changrong Lu, 2018. "Recent developments in China's labor market: Labor shortage, rising wages and their implications," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 1217-1238, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yanjiang Zhang & Hongyi Fan & Qingling Liu & Xiaofen Yu & Shangming Yang, 2023. "How a Short-Lived Rumor of Residential Redevelopment Disturbs a Local Housing Market: Evidence from Hangzhou, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Zhou, Zhengyi, 2022. "The effects of state-led relocation on labor market participation: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Mingzhi Hu & Yating Zhang, 2024. "Housing demolition and labour force participation: A gender difference perspective," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), January.
    4. Zhang, Yi & Fan, Ying & Xia, Yan, 2021. "Structural evolution of energy embodied in final demand as economic growth: Empirical evidence from 25 countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Xuecun Zhao & Yanrong Liu, 2022. "Effects of housing demolition on labor supply: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1663-1692, August.
    6. Chuhong Wang & Yonghua Wang & Xingfei Liu & Jiatong Zhong, 2023. "Housing Demolition and Occupational Mobility: Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 191-221, November.
    7. Rui Zhang & Chenglei Zhang & Jiahui Xia & Dawei Feng & Shaoyong Wu, 2022. "Household Wealth and Individuals’ Mental Health: Evidence from the 2012–2018 China Family Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-18, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xuecun Zhao & Yanrong Liu, 2022. "Effects of housing demolition on labor supply: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1663-1692, August.
    2. Li, Feng & Xiao, Jing Jian & Cai, Feiying, 2019. "Wealth, labor supply and life satisfaction: The case of urban housing demolition in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Li, Han & Li, Jiangyi & Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua, 2023. "Do housing regulations affect child development? Evidence and mechanisms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. George Bulman & Robert Fairlie & Sarena Goodman & Adam Isen, 2021. "Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(4), pages 1201-1240, April.
    5. Richard Akresh & Damien de Walque & Harounan Kazianga, 2013. "Cash Transfers and Child Schooling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of the Role of Conditionality," Economics Working Paper Series 1301, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    6. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children’s Outcomes? An update," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103494, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Jiang, Xiandeng & Zhao, Ningru & Pan, Zheng, 2022. "Regional housing wealth, relative housing wealth and labor market behavior," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Hong Liu & Lili Liu & Fei Wang, 2023. "Housing wealth and fertility: evidence from China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 359-395, January.
    9. de Gendre, Alexandra & Lynch, John & Meunier, Aurélie & Pilkington, Rhiannon & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Child Health and Parental Responses to an Unconditional Cash Transfer at Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 14693, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Kerris Cooper & Kitty Stewart, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children's Outcomes? An update," CASE Papers /203, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    11. Rute M. Caeiro & Pedro C. Vicente, 2020. "Knowledge of vitamin A deficiency and crop adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in Mozambique," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 175-190, March.
    12. Jaschke Philipp & Sulin Sardoschau & Marco Tabellini, 2021. "Scared Straight? Threat and Assimilation of Refugees in Germany," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2136, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    13. Grácio, Matilde & Vicente, Pedro C., 2021. "Information, get-out-the-vote messages, and peer influence: Causal effects on political behavior in Mozambique," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    14. Braxton, John Carter & Chikhale, Nisha & Herkenhoff, Kyle & Phillips, Gordon, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility and Credit," IZA Discussion Papers 16826, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Hızıroğlu Aygün, Aysun & Kırdar, Murat Güray & Koyuncu, Murat & Stoeffler, Quentin, 2024. "Keeping refugee children in school and out of work: Evidence from the world's largest humanitarian cash transfer program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Paul Dolan & Christian Krekel & Helen Lee & Claire Marshall & Ganga Shreedhar & Allison Smith, 2021. "Happy to help: The welfare effects of a nationwide micro-volunteering programme," CEP Discussion Papers dp1772, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. Karthik Muralidharan & Nishith Prakash, 2017. "Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 321-350, July.
    18. Corsini, Alberto & Pezzoni, Michele & Visentin, Fabiana, 2022. "What makes a productive Ph.D. student?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    19. Lydia Mechtenberg & Grischa Perino & Nicolas Treich & Jean-Robert Tyran & Stephanie Wang, 2021. "Self-Signaling in Moral Voting," Discussion Papers 21-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    20. Huebener, Mathias & Kuehnle, Daniel & Spiess, C. Katharina, 2019. "Parental leave policies and socio-economic gaps in child development: Evidence from a substantial benefit reform using administrative data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 61.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban housing demolition; Household wealth; Labor supply; Human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:63:y:2020:i:c:s1043951x20301309. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.