Preference for Sons in China May Lead to Bubbles in U.S
By Sami on June 30th, 2009
The WSJ has an article over how China’s “one child” policy led to a higher rate of savings in China and may have played a part in our own financial bubble:
One possible reason for the jump in savings: The dearth of women is making China’s marriage market extremely competitive, and families with boys are accumulating wealth to make their sons more attractive matches.
In a paper recently posted to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s website, economists Shan-Jin Wei, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and Xiaobo Zhangk, at the International Food Policy offer evidence why this might be so. They find that in areas where the male-to-female sex for young Chinese is high, savings rates are higher, too. And they find that households with sons save more in high male-to-sex ratio regions.
(PS: Hello again.)
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