Housing prices and spousal age gap: Evidence from the chinese housing boom

Abstract

Previous studies find that economic development is usually associated with a decline in the spousal age gap between a husband and wife. However, China’s spousal age gap has been increasing since the 1990s. In China’s marriage market, men are expected to purchase house before marriage, which means that high housing prices can present them with significant financial pressure. This paper estimates the causal relationship between housing prices and spousal age gaps. Our empirical results suggest that higher housing prices significantly increased the spousal age gap among Chinese urban couples between 2000 and 2010. It is noteworthy that men delay marriage more than women due to rising housing prices, suggesting that the widening of the spousal age gap is due to men delaying marriage more.