(Correspondent Zhao Wentao) On November 15, 2024, the 65th Xi Xian Forum was successfully held in Conference Room 119 of the Wenqin Building. This event was co-hosted by the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance (111 Center), along with the School of Public Finance and Taxation, both at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). As the keynote speaker of this academic forum, Professor Zhao Liqiu from the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China delivered a keynote speech entitled "Rising Sex Ratio and Labor Supply of Elderly in China". This academic forum was presided over by Ye Jingjing, a researcher at the 111 Center. Over 20 teachers and students attended the forum, including Professor Ma Yuanyuan and Associate Professor Ouyang Jie from the School of Public Finance and Taxation, Liu Ling and Yuan Lulu from the School of Economics, and Professor Rong Zhao from the Wenlan School of Business, as well as researchers Wan Qian and Zou Wei from the 111 Center.
In recent years, the labor supply of the elderly in China's labor market has gradually increased, which has aroused widespread concern. Professor Zhao and her team are the first to explain the increase in labor supply of elderly people from the perspective of distortions in the marriage market caused by an imbalanced sex ratio. Professor Zhao selected variables such as the sex ratio and a dummy variable for the gender of the first child for empirical analysis and reached the following conclusion: First, if the first-born child is male and was born during a period with an imbalanced sex ratio, the father's labor supply increases significantly by approximately 4.7%, and his working hours increase by 23.6 hours per month. Second, having a boy as the first child increases the cost of parental education. In the case of sex ratio imbalance, the cost of marriage for children increases, while the transfer payments from children to parents after marriage decrease. Finally, being born during a period of unbalanced sex ratios decreases both parental consumption in old age and fathers' life satisfaction.
。
Professor Zhao's insightful speech encouraged reflection among students and teachers on the growth of the elderly labor supply resulting from distortions in the marriage market due to an imbalanced sex ratio. In the discussion session, all participants actively exchanged views on the advantages and disadvantages of the increasing labor supply of the elderly.
Guest Profile
Zhao Liqiu, Ph.D. in Economics, is the director and professor at the Department of Labor Economics within the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China (RUC). She is also a research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at RUC. Her research interests are labor economics, development economics and regional economics. She has undertaken or participated in many projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). She has published many papers in both domestic and international journals, including The Journal of World Economy, Journal of Health Economics, China Economic Review, Applied Economics, Social Policy Administration, Labour Economics, and Journal of Comparative Economics.