SEX RATIOS AND CRIME: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Edlund, Lena; Li, Hongbin; Yi, Junjian; Zhang, Junsen
• 署名单位: Columbia University; Tsinghua University; University of Chicago; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00356
• 发表日期: 2013-12
• 页码: 1520-1534
• 关键词: marriage; men

摘要

Since the introduction of the one-child policy in China in 1979, many more boys than girls have been born, foreshadowing a sizable bride shortage. What do young men unable to find wives do? This paper focuses on criminality, an asocial activity that has seen a marked rise since the mid-1990s. Exploiting province-year level variation, we find an elasticity of crime with respect to the sex ratio of 16- to 25-year-olds of 3.4, suggesting that male sex ratios can account for one-seventh of the rise in crime. We hypothesize that adverse marriage market conditions drive this association.