Education, Marriage Squeeze and First Marriage Formation: Evidence from Modern China

Sammanfattning: This article studies the effects of educational attainment and the gender ratio of the population within the same educational category on marriage formation in the context of modern China. The empirical analysis is based on macro data from the China statistical yearbook and micro data from the Chinese General Social Survey. The results show that education has a delaying effect and an inhibiting effect on women's marriage formation, whereas education only has a delaying effect but no depressing effect on men's marriage formation. Moreover, we find evidence of "marriage squeeze" only for educated women and less-educated men. For these two groups, the sex ratio for individuals of the same level of education is an essential determinant of marriage outcomes, suggesting that college-educated women and less-educated men tend to marry mainly to spouses of their same education level. Overall, these results suggest that Chinese marriage behavior and mate selection preferences in terms of education have gender asymmetry and educational differences.