| Abstract: |
China experiences an increasingly severe relative surplus of men in the
pre-marital age cohort. The existing literature on its consequences focuses
mostly on negative aspects such as crime. In this paper, we provide evidence
that the imbalance may also stimulate economic growth by inducing more
entrepreneurship and hard work. First, new domestic private firms – an
important engine of growth – are more likely to emerge from regions with a
higher sex ratio imbalance. Second, the likelihood for parents with a son to
be entrepreneurs rises with the local sex ratio. Third, households with a son
in regions with a more skewed sex ratio demonstrate a greater willingness to
accept relatively dangerous or unpleasant jobs and supply more work days. In
contrast, the labor supply pattern by households with a daughter is unrelated
to the sex ratio. Finally, regional GDP tends to grow faster in provinces with
a higher sex ratio. Since the sex ratio imbalance will become worse in the
near future, this growth effect is likely to persist. |