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Quantity-quality trade-off in Northeast China during the Qing dynasty.
- Source :
-
Journal of Population Economics . Jul2023, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p1657-1694. 38p. 1 Color Photograph, 8 Charts, 2 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- We paint a detailed picture of whether the trade-off between human capital and fertility decisions was shaped in a pre-industrial society during the Qing dynasty. Using data from the China Multi-Generational Panel Dataset-Liaoning (CMGPD-LN), we investigate 16,328 adult males born between 1760 and 1880 in Northeast China. We control for birth-order effects and for a rich set of individual-, parental-, household-, and village-level characteristics in regression analyses on individuals from different household categories (elite vs. non-elite households). Our findings suggest that sibship size, as instrumented by twins at last birth, starts to have a substantial negative effect on the probability of receiving an education, indicating the emergence of a child quantity-quality trade-off for large parts of the population belonging to the Eight Banner System in Liaoning around the mid-Qing dynasty. Our results provide supportive evidence for the unified growth theory, showing that the decreased fertility rates in pre-transition China could be a result of rational behaviors perpetuated by households in response to higher educational returns and accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09331433
- Volume :
- 36
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Population Economics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 163850700
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-022-00933-x