Gender imbalance, wife’s bargain power and shrinking household size in Rural China

Abstract

Household size in rural China has seen a shrinking trend in the past decades. This has been attributed to the one-child policy, low fertility rates, and population migration under rapid urbanization. This paper suggests that the gender imbalance in the marriage market has improved the bargaining power of wives, which has led them to divide up the family and live apart from their parents-in-law. This trend has improved the share of doubleton families and decreased the size of households in rural China. Employing nationally representative survey data, empirical evidence indicates that the gender imbalance has significant positive effects on the probability of married women living apart from parents-in-law. This effect is stronger in rural China than in urban China. This paper sheds light on the driving forces of shrinking household size in rural China and has important implications for future family policies such as supporting the elderly in rural China.