Title：Is Gender Destiny? Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India

Speaker：Hanchen Jiang, University of North Texas

Time：10:00 - 11:30 (Beijing Time, GMT+8), 21 May, 2021

Online

Zoom ID：9316789264

Password：790971

About the speaker:

Hanchen Jiang obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University in 2020 and M.A. in Economic Development from Vanderbilt University in 2014. His research interests are in the areas of Labor Economics, Urban Economics, and Development Economics, with a special focus on the economics of issues relating to the well-being of low-income families and children. He is particularly interested in the following topics: human development, intergenerational mobility, social safety nets, housing affordability, migration and urbanization. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of North Texas. He also works as a short-term consultant for the World Bank.

Abstract:

We develop a model of intergenerational educational mobility incorporating gender bias against girls in the family, school, and labor market. Mobility and investment equations from the model are estimated for India using data not truncated by coresidency. The standard linear model misses important heterogeneity and yields misleading conclusions. Daughters of uneducated fathers face lower relative and absolute mobility (rural and urban). We find gender equality in absolute mobility for children of urban college educated fathers, but not in rural areas. Theoretical insights help understand the mechanisms. Parental nonfinancial inputs, unwanted girls, and patrilineal states are important for explaining the findings.