6041 
6006In recent years, a very important phenomenon has emerged in the marriage market, which is the change of the sex ratio of higher education （manifested as the significant improvement of women’s education compared with men’s education）. This paper uses micro survey data and pro-vincial panel data to investigate the relationship between this phenomenon and the rise of housing prices comprehensively. It attempts to answer the following two questions: （1） How does the change of the sex ratio of higher education affect residents’ house-purchase behavior? （2） Does the micro motive caused by the change of the sex ratio of higher education promote the rise of housing prices at the macro level? Based on the marriage theory of Becker, this paper puts forward a new motive of house-purchase, which provides a theoretical explanation for the increasing pressure of men of house-purchase and links the sex ratio of higher education to the rise of housing prices in China. The main logic of this paper is that, because of the mechanism inflexibility of the marriage income distribution, the bargaining power of men and women before marriage is not consistent with the income distribution after marriage. With the continuous improvement of the sex ratio of higher education （women/men）, men will compensate for the improvement of women’s education level by buying a house in the marriage matching. Family-level data and provincial-level data confirm this hypothesis. Family-level results show that households with wives of higher education are more likely to buy houses than to rent. In the provincial panel regression, the ratio of females above junior college to males is used to measure the sex ratio of higher education, and the results show that the faster the sex ratio of higher education increases, the faster the housing price rises. This paper expands the research on the influence of the marriage market on housing prices. Existing research ignores this important phenomenon in the marriage market, that is, the number of marriageable women is decreasing relatively, and their quality is also greatly improving relatively. This paper has important theoretical significance. The hypothesis proposed in this paper complements the research of Wei et al. （2012）, and does not have a major defect in their paper, that is, the imbalance of the sex ratio of marriageable population mainly occurs in economically backward regions, while the rise of housing prices mainly occurs in economically developed regions. The compensatory effect caused by the sex ratio of higher education and the tournament effect caused by the imbalance of the sex ratio of marriageable population jointly affect the house-purchase pressure of men, if we only emphasize the tournament effect caused by the imbalance of the sex ratio of marriageable population, we cannot explain many other phenomena. Moreover, this paper has important practical significance. The spread of the public opinion that " mother-in-laws drives up housing prices” illustrates that buying a house for marriage in China is the most important motive of house-purchase, hence this paper points out that the government should weaken the influence of the compensatory house-purchase motive on housing prices through many measures, such as guiding the public opinion.
/ Journals / Journal of Finance and Economics
Journal of Finance and Economics
LiuYuanchun, Editor-in-Chief
ZhengChunrong, Vice Executive Editor-in-Chief
YaoLan BaoXiaohua HuangJun, Vice Editor-in-Chief
The Motive of Compensatory House-Purchase: Continuous Improvement in the Sex Ratio of Higher Education and the Rise of Housing Prices
Journal of Finance and Economics Vol. 45, Issue 01, pp. 122 - 134 (2019) DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.jfe.2019.01.008
Summary
References
Summary
[1] Chen B K, Chen L. Understanding the underconsumption of China: a review of the literature [J]. The Journal of World Economy, 2014,(7):3-22.（In Chinese）
[2] Chen B K, Xu F, Tan L. Demographic transition and housing demand in China :1999 ~ 2025 -- a micro empir-ical study based on census data [J]. Journal of Financial Research, 2012,(01):129-140. （In Chinese）
[3] Fan Z Y, Liu J Y. Saving for Buying a house :on the income distribution effect of property tax reform [J]. Management World (Monthly), 2015,(05):18-27.（In Chinese）
[4] Fang L, Tian C H. Build a good nest to lead a good phoenix: rural housing investment and marriage [J]. China Economic Quarterly, 2016,(2):571-596.（In Chinese）
[5] Gao B, Wang W L, Li X. Expectation, income gap and the mystery of the "scissors gap" between housing prices and rents in Chinese cities [J]. Journal of Financial Research, 2013,(6):100-112. （In Chinese）
[6] He X F. Intergenerational relations in rural areas: the value basis of intergenerational relations [J]. So-cial sciences research, 2009,(5):84-92.（In Chinese）
[7] Liu X L, Wu J, Deng Y H. Demographic shocks, marriage and housing markets [J]. Nankai Economic Re-search, 2016,(1):58-76.（In Chinese）
[8] Lu M, Ou H J, Chen B K. Rationality or bubble: empirical studies of urbanization, migration, and housing prices [J]. he Journal of World Economy, 2014,(01):30-54.（In Chinese）
[9] Shao S F. Research on the innovation of new rural housing construction model in China [J]. Agricultur-al Economy, 2013,(7):48-50.（In Chinese）
[10] Wu Y W, Liu Q. The impact of college enrollment expansion on marriage market: single women?Single men?[J]. China Economic Quarterly, 2015,(01):5-30.（In Chinese）
[11] Xu J W, Xu Q Y, He F. Demographic factors behind rising house prices: international experience and Chinese evidence [J]. The Journal of World Economy, 2012,(01):24-42.（In Chinese）
[12] Yu L T,Lian H Q.Save for marriage?Empirical Evidence from CFPS Data [J]. Journal of Finance and Econom-ics, 2017,(6):17-27.（In Chinese）
[13] Akerlof G. The Market for “Lemons”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism[J]. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1970,84(3):488-500.
[14] Angrist J. How Do Sex Ratios Affect Marriage and Labor Markets? Evidence from America's Second Genera-tion[J]. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002,117(3):997-1038.
[15] Becker G S. A Theory of Marriage: Part I[J]. Journal of Political Economy, 1973,81(4):813-846.
[16] Becker G S. treatise on the family[M]. Harvard University P, 1981.
[17] Bertrand M, Goldin C, Katz L F. Dynamics of the Gender Gap for Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors[J]. American Economic Journal Applied Economics, 2010,2(3):228-255.
[18] Case K E, Shiller R J. The Efficiency of the Market for Single-Family Homes[J]. The American Economic Review, 1989,79(1):125-137.
[19] Cheung S N S. The Enforcement of Property Rights in Children, and the Marriage Contract[J]. Economic Journal, 1972,82(326):641-657.
[20] Cox D, Jakubson G. The connection between public transfers and private interfamily transfers[J]. Journal of Public Economics, 1995,57(1):129-167.
[21] Du Q, Wei S J. A theory of the competitive saving motive[J]. Journal of International Economics, 2013,91(2):275-289.
[22] Edlund L, Li H, Yi J, Zhang J. More Men, More Crime: Evidence from China's One-Child Policy[J]. Social Science Electronic Publishing, 2008.
[23] Härkönen J, Dronkers J. Stability and Change in the Educational Gradient of Divorce. A Comparison of Sev-enteen Countries[J]. European Sociological Review, 2006,22(5):501-517.
[24] Isen A, Stevenson B. Women's Education and Family Behavior: Trends in Marriage, Divorce and Fertili-ty[C].International Workshop on the Quality of Service-Oriented Software Systems, 2010.
[25] Mankiw N G, Weil D N. The baby boom, the baby bust, and the housing market[J]. Reg Sci Urban Econ, 1989,19(2):235-258.
[26] Rothschild M, Stiglitz J. Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imper-fect Information[M]. Springer Netherlands, 1976: 630-649.
[27] Sargeson, Sally. Subduing “The Rural House-building Craze”: Attitudes Towards Housing Construction and Land Use Controls in Four Zhejiang Villages[J]. The China Quarterly, 2002,172(172):927-955.
[28] Spence M. Job Market Signaling[J]. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1973,87(3):355-374.
[29] Wei S J, Zhang X. The Competitive Saving Motive: Evidence from Rising Sex Ratios and Savings Rates in China[J]. Journal of Political Economy, 2011,119(3):511-564.
[30] Wei S J, Zhang X, Liu Y. Status Competition and Housing Prices[R]. NBER Working Papers, 2012.
[31] Zhang J, Chan W. Dowry and Wife's Welfare: A Theotrical and Empirical Analysis[J]. Journal of Political Economy, 1999,107(4):786-808.
Cite this article
He Linhao. The Motive of Compensatory House-Purchase: Continuous Improvement in the Sex Ratio of Higher Education and the Rise of Housing Prices[J]. Journal of Finance and Economics, 2019, 45(1): 122-134.
Export Citations as:
For
