The 44th Xi Xian Forum, co-hosted by IIDPF and the School of Public Finance and Taxation, was successfully held on 9 October 2023 in Room 119 of Wenqin Building. Assistant Professor Kun Bao from the School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, as the guest speaker of the forum, gave a keynote speech entitled "Incomplete information within Marriage: The Purchase of a House as a Signal of Commitment". The academic forum was hosted by Prof Lu Yuanping, the director of IIDPF, with the participation of Dr Wang Xiaoxiao from the School of Public Finance and Taxation, and over twenty faculty members and students, including researchers Dr Wan Qian, Dr Zou Wei and Dr Zou Jianwen from IIDPF.
The introduction of the New Marriage Law in 2011 redefined the rules of intra-family property allocation, and existing research has not yet provided a systematic explanation or a clear conclusion on the impact of the "new rules" on married couples' intra-family decision-making and the potential allocation of internal resources. Based on the game model, Assistant Professor Bao Kun analyses the behavioural responses of spouses under incomplete information, and empirically examines the impact of the reduced level of commitment in the marital relationship on couples' investment in joint assets after marriage, using the implementation of the New Marriage Law in 2011 as an external shock. The study finds that, on average, the introduction of the New Marriage Law led to a 6.1 per cent increase in the proportion of couples owning jointly owned homes, and a series of robustness tests support these findings. The findings highlight the importance of commitment in family welfare, and unlike previous studies that assumed that marriages have complete information, Dr Bao's article considers the internal adjustments of spouses' family decision-making under incomplete information, providing new perspectives on understanding the Chinese marriage law and interactions between spouses.
Assistant Professor Pao's speech triggered in-depth thinking among the faculty and students present. The theme of this novel, present faculty and students enthusiastically spoke, around the research background, theoretical models and empirical evidence and other content for active interactive exchanges. Assistant Professor Bao's sharing promoted the communication between different academic viewpoints and created a strong academic atmosphere.
