Assistant Professor,
School of Economics at Singapore Management University [CV]
Research Interests:
Labor Economics, Economics of Education, Demographic Economics
Email: [email protected]
School of Economics at Singapore Management University [CV]
Research Interests:
Labor Economics, Economics of Education, Demographic Economics
Email: [email protected]
Publication:
Social Norms and Fertility (with JungJae Park and Junjian Yi) [pdf] [appendix] (Journal of the European Economic Association, Volume 19, Issue 5, October 2021, Pages 2429–2466)
We document three stylized facts on marriage and fertility patterns in East Asian societies: (i) their marriage rates are among the highest in the world, but their total fertility is the lowest; (ii) although they have the lowest total fertility, almost all married women have at least one child; and (iii) almost no single women have any children. As these societies have been influenced by Confucianism over millennia, marriage and fertility decisions are potentially shaped by two social norms: the unequal gender division of childcare and the stigma attached to out-of-wedlock births. We present a model incorporating the two social norms, and structurally estimate it using data from South Korea. We find that the social norm of unequal gender division of childcare plays a significant role in the low fertility rates, especially for highly educated women. However, the social stigma attached to out-of-wedlock births has modest effects on the childlessness rate for single women. Our results show that the tension between the persistent gender ideology and the rapid socioeconomic development is the main driving force behind the unique marriage and fertility patterns in East Asian societies.
Working Papers:
Financial Crisis and Female Entrepreneurship: Evidence from South Korea (with Jungho Lee) [pdf]
(revision requested by Journal of Political Economy: Macroeconomics)
We document a drastic increase in female-owned manufacturing firms in South Korea after the 1997 financial crisis. A major banking sector reform was conducted during the crisis, and many underperforming bank branches were forced to close down. We find that more female-owned firms were created in areas where more bank branches were closed during the reform. We present evidence that male-owned firms were preferred by closed-down bank branches, despite female-owned firms exhibiting lower risks and higher returns. The banking sector reform, although not explicitly aimed at addressing gender disparities, substantially benefited female entrepreneurs by improving efficiency in the financial market.
Self-financing, Parental Transfer, and College Education (with Jungho Lee) [pdf] (revision requested by the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control)
We show that financial constraints can affect the human capital accumulation of college students by influencing students' labor supply. We document that many college students work a substantial number of hours at low-skill jobs, and students who have fewer financial resources (in particular, parental transfer) tend to work more. We develop a model that incorporates college students’ labor supply and its interaction with parental transfer in the presence of financial constraints. By estimating the model, we quantify the trade-off between self-financing and human capital accumulation and discuss the implications of a wage subsidy policy.
Gender Divergence in Premarket Skill Acquisition and Changes in Gender Wage Gap [pdf]
Using data from NLSY79 and NLSY97, I find that women experience positive wage gains at all levels of the wage distribution, while men mostly experience negative wage gains, except at the top end of the wage distribution. I analyze how changes in various skill components contribute to the recent shifts in the wage distribution by gender and examine the implications for trends in the gender wage gap. The wage gain from changes in skill components is highest in the middle range of the wage distribution for women and at the top for men. Accordingly, changes in skill components can explain three-quarters of the shift in the gender wage gap in the middle range of the wage distribution, but account for only one third of the trend at the top end. Skill prices declined more for men in the middle wage range, accounting for one-quarter of the gender wage gap reduction. Meanwhile, the increase in skill prices for women, combined with stable prices for men in two different cohorts, accounts for two-thirds of the reduction in the gender wage gap at the top end of the distribution.
Competition, Borrowing Constraints, and High School Achievement Gap [pdf]
This paper studies how borrowing constraints interact with capacity limits at high-quality universities to affect students' sorting into selective universities and human capital accumulation during high school. When students compete for the limited seats in high-quality universities, borrowing constraints play an important role in shaping the strategic behaviors of high school students. I develop a model of high school students' effort and college-application choices, and estimate the model with the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. I use geographic variations of the sticker prices for attending selective and nonselective universities as exogenous variations to identify students' responses to financial incentives. Borrowing constraints not only distort who attends selective universities, but also widen the achievement gap between rich and poor students in advance of college entrance, and lower pre-college human capital of high-ability students from all-income backgrounds. Provided by selective universities, need-based aid can close the achievement gap better than merit-based aid, while having a similar impact on the aggregate achievement level.
Returns to Education for Women, Assortative Marriage Matching, and Home Production [will be updated]
I estimate returns to college education for women, accounting for how assortative marriage matching and the home production affect labor supply and fertility choice. Based on the NLSY 79 and the NLSY79 Child/Young Adults 1986-2012, I find the gain from home production, as measured by the average educational outcome of children, explains 4% of the returns to college education, whereas the college wage premium explains 44% of the return. The college attainment rate would decrease by 5% without gains from home production and decrease by 27% without gains in the wage return. Second, the impact of assortative marriage matching on the returns to college education is substantial. If the probability of marrying college graduated husband decreases by 5% for college educated women, the returns to college education for women would decrease by 15%. This would reduce the college attainment rate by 19%. High-ability students from less affluent family background benefit more from the assortative marriage matching.
Book Chapters:
Providing Child Care (with Christine Ho) [pdf] forthcoming, Hoon, H.T. (Ed), Singapore’s Economic Dynamism and Inclusion. Routledge.