Parents' Early Experience and Children's Years of Schooling: The Long-Term Impact of Son Preference

44 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2023

See all articles by Cheng Yawen

Cheng Yawen

Peking University

Dongmin Kong

School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Abstract

As a prominent determinant of future personal development, it has been well documented that years of schooling are largely influenced by family. However, few studies have explored the intergenerational impact of individuals' early experience on their offspring's educational attainment. Using the China's 1959-1961 famine as an exogenous shock, we construct a difference-in-difference model based on various famine severity across provinces and cohorts. We find that daughters born to rural famine fathers have obtained a lower educational level. Mechanism analysis reveals that male famine survivors are more likely to be observed within families with a strong son preference, which passes on and damages the educational attainment of their daughters. The effect is more pronounced especially when the daughter is not an only child, has a brother, or the second child within the family is a son. Above results are robust to different specifications and alternative measures, indicating that individuals' early experience may negatively affect offspring's educational attainment through an entrenched cultural concept.

Keywords: the Great Famine, intergenerational impact, years of schooling, son preference

Suggested Citation

Yawen, Cheng and Kong, Dongmin, Parents' Early Experience and Children's Years of Schooling: The Long-Term Impact of Son Preference. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4509195 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4509195

Cheng Yawen (Contact Author)

Peking University ( email )

No. 38 Xueyuan Road
Haidian District
Beijing, 100871
China

Dongmin Kong

School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology ( email )

Bldg. of Econ. School, Louyu Rd. 1037#
HUST, Hongshan Dist.
Wuhan, Hubei 430074
China

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