Arbeitspapier

Consequences of War: Japan's Demographic Transition and the Marriage Market

This study explores the effects of imbalances in the sex ratio, and their impact on intra-household bargaining, on both the quantity and the quality of children. We first present the theoretical model of intra-household bargaining in the presence of con icting family goals within a couple, and show that male scarcity (a decrease in the male to female sex ratio) induces an increase in the number of children, but a decrease in the quality of children. Second, using the impact of World War II on the sex ratio, as a quasi-natural experiment, we establish empirically that the decrease in the male to female sex ratio in World War II contributed to a lower decline in fertility and child mortality rates in postwar Japan. In particular, the fertility rate would have fallen by an additional 12% and the child mortality rate by an additional 13% between 1948 and 1970, in the absence of the decrease in the sex ratio.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: GLO Discussion Paper ; No. 750

Classification
Wirtschaft
Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: Asia including Middle East
Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Asia including Middle East
Subject
quantity-quality trade-off of children
bargaining power
marriage mar- ket
sex ratio

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Ogasawara, Kota
Komura, Mizuki
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Global Labor Organization (GLO)
(where)
Essen
(when)
2021

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Ogasawara, Kota
  • Komura, Mizuki
  • Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Time of origin

  • 2021

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