人口性别结构与家庭资产选择:性别失衡的视角

Population Gender Structure and Family Assets Selection:A Perspective of Gender Imbalance

本文从理论和经验上研究地区性别失衡对微观家庭资产选择(房屋和金融资产)的影响,利用2013年、2015年、2017年中国家庭金融调查数据研究发现:地区性别比是影响家庭资产决策的重要变量,随着性别失衡加剧,相比女孩家庭,男孩家庭有更大动机选择对房屋进行投资,而不是选择高风险的金融资产。其作用机制在于:性别失衡加剧了婚姻市场的觅偶竞争和信息不对称,相比金融资产,房屋作为一种风险更低、更加外显性的财富形式和“身份商品”,可以在婚姻市场释放男孩家庭“筑巢引凤”的高质量信号。进一步发现,男孩家庭偏向于选择面积更大、价值更高的房屋,而且相比女孩家庭,其预期购房时间更加迫切。本文研究结论不仅为性别失衡影响家庭的资产选择提供了细致的经验证据,也有助于为政府提供新的政策参考。

This paper theoretically and empirically studied the impact of regional gender imbalance on the selection of micro family assets(housing and financial assets),and found that:Regional sex ratio is an important variable affecting the decision of family assets by using the data of Chinese Household Finance Survey in 2013,2015,2017.As the gender imbalance grows,families with one boy have more incentive than those with one daughter to invest in their houses rather than in risky financial assets.The mechanism is as follows:gender imbalance intensifies mate-seeking competition and information asymmetry in the marriage market.Compared with financial assets,housing,as a form of wealth and“identity commodity”with lower risk and more explicit,can release high-quality signals of“nesting and attracting”in the marriage market for male families.It is further found that families with one boy tend to choose houses with larger area and higher value,and their expected time of purchase is more urgent than those with one daughter.The conclusions of this paper not only provide detailed empirical evidence for the influence of gender imbalance on household asset selection,but also help to provide new policy insights for the government.