DC Accepted Papers Paper:
Implication of China's New Two Child Policy: The Demand for Children, Mating Process and the Gender Wage Gap
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
The gender wage gap has been declining during the past few decades, yet a large difference still remains between men and women. But it is also true that the gender wage gap is bigger between married men and married women. One explanation for this phenomenon is division of labor in the home. Women and men specialize differently in the home production and labor market work. Yet the cause of division of labor in the home is not easily found. Existing papers argue that because women have a shorter fecundity horizon than men, they tend to get married younger than men, and this mating process results in demographic differences such as a husband-wife age gap and an educational disparity. These demographic differences are consistent with husbands earning more or having greater earning potential. This means husbands have comparative advantages in earnings, which will lead to division of labor in the home. In this article, I examine how the more recent two-child policy in China affects the demand for children, the husband-wife age gap and educational differences. My context is the adoption of two-child policy in China spanning the period 1980-2016. I find that the husband-wife age gap widened for thoses couples who are eligible for two children.
