IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v56y2019i3d10.1007_s13524-019-00783-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Boys, Girls, and Grandparents: The Impact of the Sex of Preschool-Aged Children on Family Living Arrangements and Maternal Labor Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Ang Sun

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Chuanchuan Zhang

    (Central University of Finance and Economics)

  • Xiangting Hu

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

Abstract

In this study, we consider household decision-making on living arrangements and maternal labor supply in extended families with young children. In such a context, decision-making is driven by the concerns that the companionship of children is a household public good and that family members share childcare and related domestic duties. The incentive to share children’s companionship is affected by son preference, whereas the economic motive of labor division hinges on the potential wage rate of the mother. Both channels play important roles in households with mothers whose wage rates are high, while sharing the companionship of (grand) sons is the main driving force in households with mothers whose wage rates are low. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data, we find that among less-educated mothers, the incidence of a family coresiding with the paternal grandmother is at least 8.6 percentage points higher if the firstborn is a boy. At the same time, maternal labor supply increases by 2.9 days per month. By contrast, for educated mothers, the propensity for coresidence is higher, the working hours are longer, and the impact of the child’s sex is not significant. Our study not only provides a better understanding of the demographic and economic factors determining coresidence and intrahousehold time allocations but also lends empirical support to policies aiming to increase female labor supply and improve the well-being of girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Ang Sun & Chuanchuan Zhang & Xiangting Hu, 2019. "Boys, Girls, and Grandparents: The Impact of the Sex of Preschool-Aged Children on Family Living Arrangements and Maternal Labor Supply," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 813-833, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:56:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s13524-019-00783-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-019-00783-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-019-00783-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-019-00783-5?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. Gordon B. Dahl & Enrico Moretti, 2008. "The Demand for Sons," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(4), pages 1085-1120.
    2. Del Boca, Daniela, 2015. "Child Care Arrangements and Labor Supply," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6812, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Margaret Maurer-Fazio & Rachel Connelly & Lan Chen & Lixin Tang, 2011. "Childcare, Eldercare, and Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Urban China, 1982–2000," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(2), pages 261-294.
    4. Harounan Kazianga & Zaki Wahhaj, 2013. "Gender, Social Norms, and Household Production in Burkina Faso," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(3), pages 539-576.
    5. Merril Silverstein & Zhen Cong & Shuzhuo Li, 2006. "Intergenerational Transfers and Living Arrangements of Older People in Rural China: Consequences for Psychological Well-Being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(5), pages 256-266.
    6. Ke Shen & Ping Yan & Yi Zeng, 2016. "Coresidence with elderly parents and female labor supply in China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(23), pages 645-670.
    7. Laura Pagani & Anna Marenzi, 2008. "The Labor Market Participation of Sandwich Generation Italian Women," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 427-444, September.
    8. Leonardo Bursztyn & Thomas Fujiwara & Amanda Pallais, 2017. "'Acting Wife': Marriage Market Incentives and Labor Market Investments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(11), pages 3288-3319, November.
    9. Zhang, Junsen & Zhao, Yaohui & Park, Albert & Song, Xiaoqing, 2005. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China, 1988 to 2001," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 730-752, December.
    10. M. Rebecca Kilburn & Ashlesha Datar, 2002. "The Availability of Child Care Centers in China and Its Impact on Child Care and Maternal Work Decisions," Working Papers DRU-2924-NIH, RAND Corporation.
    11. Silvia Helena Barcellos & Leandro S. Carvalho & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2014. "Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 157-189, January.
    12. M. Rebecca Kilburn & Ashlesha Datar, 2002. "The Availability of Child Care Centers in China and Its Impact on Child Care and Maternal Work Decisions," Working Papers 02-12, RAND Corporation.
    13. Marco Manacorda & Enrico Moretti, 2006. "Why do Most Italian Youths Live with Their Parents? Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(4), pages 800-829, June.
    14. Sun, Ang & Zhao, Yaohui, 2016. "Divorce, abortion, and the child sex ratio: The impact of divorce reform in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 53-69.
    15. Joan Kahn & Frances Goldscheider & Javier García-Manglano, 2013. "Growing Parental Economic Power in Parent–Adult Child Households: Coresidence and Financial Dependency in the United States, 1960–2010," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1449-1475, August.
    16. Compton, Janice & Pollak, Robert A., 2014. "Family proximity, childcare, and women’s labor force attachment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 72-90.
    17. Avraham Ebenstein, 2010. "The "Missing Girls" of China and the Unintended Consequences of the One Child Policy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
    18. Susan E. Short & Feinian Chen & Barbara Entwisle & Zhai Fengying, 2002. "Maternal Work and Child Care in China: A Multi‐Method Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 31-57, March.
    19. Ogawa, Naohiro & Ermisch, John F, 1996. "Family Structure, Home Time Demands, and the Employment Patterns of Japanese Married Women," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(4), pages 677-702, October.
    20. Zhen Zeng & Yu Xie, 2014. "The Effects of Grandparents on Children’s Schooling: Evidence From Rural China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 599-617, April.
    21. Daniela Del Boca, 2015. "Child Care Arrangements and Labor Supply," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 88074, Inter-American Development Bank.
    22. Chuanchuan Zhang, 2019. "Family support or social support? The role of clan culture," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 529-549, April.
    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. Wang, Qing & Zhang, Shiying, 2022. "Gender inequality in nutrition intake: Evidence from a large assistance program," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    2. Wang, Sophie Xuefei & Bansak, Cynthia, 2022. "Are Grandparents a Good Substitute for Parents as the Primary Caregiver? The Impact of Grandparents on Children's Academic Performance," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1100, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Wang, Jianxin & Yuan, Caiyun & Zhang, Qian & Houser, Daniel, 2023. "Parents’ absence harms norm obedience of girls more than boys," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 17-29.
    4. Tavassoli Nahid, 2021. "The Transition of Son Preference: Evidence from Southeast Asian Countries," Economics, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 43-67, June.
    5. Huang, Zibin & Jiang, Xu & Sun, Ang, 2024. "Fertility and delayed migration: How son preference protects young girls against mother–child separation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Tao, Yinhua & van Ham, Maarten & Petrović, Ana & Ta, Na, 2023. "A household perspective on the commuting paradox: Longitudinal relationships between commuting time and subjective wellbeing for couples in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen & Zhang, Xun & Zuo, Congming, 2024. "Income inequality effect of public utility infrastructure: Evidence from rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    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. Ke Shen & Ping Yan & Yi Zeng, 2016. "Coresidence with elderly parents and female labor supply in China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(23), pages 645-670.
    2. Qing Wang, 2015. "Child Gender, Intergenerational Kinship and Parental Labor Market Outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 892-907, November.
    3. Christine Ho, 2019. "Child’s gender, parental monetary investments and care of elderly parents in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 741-774, September.
    4. Huang, Zibin & Jiang, Xu & Sun, Ang, 2024. "Fertility and delayed migration: How son preference protects young girls against mother–child separation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    5. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2014. "Trends in China’s gender employment and pay gap: Estimating gender pay gaps with employment selection," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 708-725.
    6. Erich Battistin & Michele De Nadai & Mario Padula, 2015. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma�s House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," Working Papers 748, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2022. "Alternative boomerang kids, intergenerational co-residence, and maternal labor supply," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 609-634, June.
    8. Andreas Landmann & Helke Seitz & Susan Steiner, 2017. "Patrilocal Residence and Female Labour Supply," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1705, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Massimiliano Bratti & Tommaso Frattini & Francesco Scervini, 2018. "Grandparental availability for child care and maternal labor force participation: pension reform evidence from Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1239-1277, October.
    10. Francisca Dussaillant, 2016. "Usage of Child Care and Education Centers," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, June.
    11. Fang, Guanfu & Miao, Liya, 2024. "Expanding boundaries: The Impact of kindergarten availability on women's employment in China," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Battistin, Erich & De Nadai, Michele & Padula, Mario, 2014. "Roadblocks on the Road to Grandma's House: Fertility Consequences of Delayed Retirement," IZA Discussion Papers 8071, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Chuanchuan Zhang, 2019. "Family support or social support? The role of clan culture," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 529-549, April.
    14. Daniel Aaronson & Rajeev Dehejia & Andrew Jordan & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Cyrus Samii & Karl Schulze, 2021. "The Effect of Fertility on Mothers’ Labor Supply over the Last Two Centuries [Semiparametric instrumental variables estimation of treatment response models]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 1-32.
    15. Olivier Donni & Eliane El Badaoui, 2024. "Labor Supply In The Extended Household: Economies Of Scale, Self‐Selection, And The Intrahousehold Distribution Of Resources In South Africa," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(1), pages 191-215, February.
    16. Lingguo Cheng & Hong Liu & Ye Zhang & Zhong Zhao, 2018. "The heterogeneous impact of pension income on elderly living arrangements: evidence from China’s new rural pension scheme," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 155-192, January.
    17. Dasgupta, Sukti. & Matsumoto, Makiko. & Xia, Cuntao., 2015. "Women in the labour market in China," ILO Working Papers 994879663402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Guo, Rufei & Li, Hongbin & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2018. "Fertility, household structure, and parental labor supply: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 145-156.
    19. Fenglian Du & Xiao-yuan Dong, 2013. "Women's Employment and Child Care Choices in Urban China during the Economic Transition," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(1), pages 131-155.
    20. Milovanska-Farrington, Stefani, 2021. "The Effect of Parental and Grandparental Supervision Time Investment on Children's Early-Age Development," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 286-304.

    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:spr:demogr:v:56:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s13524-019-00783-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.