Gender Heterogeneity Research Articles

The Gender Investment Gap over the Life Cycle

Abstract Single women invest less in risky assets than do single men. This paper analyzes the determinants of the “gender investment gap” based on a structural life-cycle framework. The model can rationalize the gender investment gap without gender heterogeneity in preferences. Rather, lower deterministic income and larger household sizes shift the composition of single women toward poorer households that invest less risky (composition effect). Additionally, future outcomes of both variables (which cannot easily be controlled for in regressions) make single women more vulnerable to financial shocks and decrease their optimal equity share even conditional on state variables (policy effect). (JEL E21, G11, G50, J16)

Does greater filial piety bring more gender income advantages? Exploring the influence of traditional Chinese filial piety on the gender wage gap

PurposeBased on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the two-dimensional filial piety concept “Qinqin – Zunzun” on gender wages in China via China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018.Design/methodology/approachThis article construct regression models to examine the relationship between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap.FindingsIt is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender. Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger suppressive effect on women’s wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents' time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by “raising the floor”, with its converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.Originality/valueThe article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

"They're not my daughter, and yet…they're also not my son": Parents negotiating their adult child's nonbinary gender identity.

Scholars are increasingly recognizing that substantial gender heterogeneity exists among transgender populations; that is, gender identities that defy the ubiquitous binary categories of male and female. However, the developing research base on the families of transgender adults focuses almost exclusively on the family members of transgender persons with binary gender identities, a noteworthy shortcoming considering the prevalence of nonbinary gender identities among transgender populations and the pervasive assumption that only two genders exist. To address this gap, the current study sought to uncover how the parents of transgender adults with nonbinary gender identities come to understand, make sense of, and negotiate nonbinary gender identities in their families. Fourteen parents-12 mothers and 2 fathers-completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the collected data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Analyses generated three broad themes that best-described these parents' experience with their child's gender, which was heavily shaped by the pervasiveness of cisnormativity: (a) varied attempts to understand nonbinary gender; (b) a nonbinary "double-edged sword"; and (c) familial resilience. Directions for future research, clinical practice, and policy change are discussed, including the therapeutic benefit of dialectical thinking and the need for legislation that legally affirms and protects nonbinary persons.

Top Management Team Heterogeneity, Top Management Incentives, and ESG Performance: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

The challenge of balancing economic and social benefits has emerged as a critical issue for corporate sustainable development. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are key considerations for enterprises aiming to enhance both social and economic benefits simultaneously. Based on the upper echelons theory, differences in cognitive foundations and values brought about by top management team heterogeneity can influence corporate decisions. Taking A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2022 as samples, we construct a two-way fixed-effects model by firm and year to explore the impact of top management team heterogeneity on corporate ESG performance, and we introduce top management incentives as a moderating variable to further analyze the underlying mechanisms. Our results demonstrate that the gender heterogeneity, functional background heterogeneity, and overseas background heterogeneity of top management teams have significant positive impacts on corporate ESG performance, and monetary compensation incentives and control incentives to top management teams play a positive moderating role, while equity incentives exhibits a negative moderating effect. These findings remain robust across alternative measures of corporate ESG ratings and monetary and control incentives, and through the SYS-GMM model test and instrumental variable approach to address endogeneity. This research contributes to the literature on corporate ESG by validating and extending the understanding of how top management team characteristics affect organizational outcomes, and it provides practical guidance for enhancing corporate ESG practices. The implications of this study suggest that to enhance corporate ESG performance, enterprises should prioritize the promotion of top management team heterogeneity and tailor their incentive mechanisms accordingly.

Management short-sighted behavior and enterprise ESG performance — Evidence from listed companies in China

High-order theory indicates that management characteristics determine strategic decision-making and enterprise performance. As developers of strategic directions of enterprises, managers are essential senior human capital. They are vital in strategic planning and adjustment based on external environmental changes impacting enterprise production and operation. China's current managerial context suggests a lack of long-term vision. Guided by sustainable development, long-term visioning is paramount for enterprises to resist external environmental threats and maintain sustainability. Thus, this study uses sample data of A-share non-financial listed companies from 2009 to 2020 to examine whether management's short-sighted behavior impacts enterprises’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and its impact mechanism using a measurement index of management's short-sighted behavior that includes “qualitative + quantitative” methods. The heterogeneity of this impact based on managers with different backgrounds and senior management team structure is discussed. Our research indicates that management's myopic behavior can significantly inhibit ESG performance. This conclusion is still robust after considering endogeneity and multiple robustness tests. The inhibitory effect is markedly evident in enterprises with no background of poverty and with no overseas experiences; at the same time, this negative effect is more obvious in the executive team with low gender heterogeneity and no professional background in management. Mechanism analysis indicates that management's shortsighted behavior inhibits enterprises’ ESG performance by reducing capital expenditure and green innovation performance. This study provides empirical support and theoretical evidence for enterprises to improve their ESG performance while offering insights for enterprises in developing countries to implement ESG practices.

Risk of Economic Violence: A New Quantification

This paper defines the first internationally comparable measure of the risk of economic violence to acknowledge its prevalence in different countries and its geographical and gender heterogeneity. Thanks to the availability of micro-data from the OECD/International Network on Financial Education survey, currently used to track financial literacy in different countries, we define a measure of the risk of economic violence (REV) that takes into consideration three macro-areas: (a) the risk of being prevented from acquiring and accumulating financial resources; (b) the risk of being unaware and not having access to personal and/or household financial resources; and (c) the risk of financial dependency. The definition of the new economic violence risk measure (REV) then allows us to verify with real data the presence of women’s greater exposure to the risk of economic violence and the presence of gender differences in the determinants of economic violence risk. Finally, we verify that financial literacy protects individuals from the risk of economic violence, without gender differences.

Preferences for Redistribution: Two Decades of Gender Gaps and Generational Differences in Europe

Abstract We provide a concise overview of the literature concerning the factors influencing preferences for redistribution, with particular attention to works that have integrated considerations of gender and/or cohort heterogeneity into their analyses. We then present a series of stylized facts on preferences for redistribution based on data from the European Social Survey for a wide array of European countries over the period spanning from 2002 to 2022. We document that, since 2002, the average preferences for redistribution have increased. While the gender gap has remained substantially unchanged, the generational gap has widened over time. Distinguishing women and men by a set of individual characteristics, instead, there exists a not negligible heterogeneity both ‘between’ and ‘within’ women and men. At the country level, the overall gender gap in preferences for redistribution increases as the country’s per capita income or gender equality increase. Conversely, the gender gap decreases in more income, unequal, and religious countries. Finally, looking at the two exogenous shocks, that is, the 2008 financial and economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, we observe that average individual attitudes towards redistribution react to both events but in a surprisingly opposite way, with a relevant heterogeneity across different sub-groups of women and men.

Impact of caregiving on mental, self-rated, and physical health: evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.

Given the escalating demand for care services, understanding the impact of informal caregiving, providing unpaid care for family members, on own health is essential. This study longitudinally analyzed the association of caregiving (and different caregiver types) with mental, physical, and self-rated health. Urban-rural, gender, and employment heterogeneity were further investigated. Based on three-wave data (2011, 2013, and 2018) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we used growth curve models to assess the impact of informal caregiving (providing care to family members) and caregiver types (caregivers to grandchildren, parents, spouses, or multiple family members) on three health outcomes (depressive symptoms, self-rated health, and activities of daily living limitations). Our study included 13,377 individuals. Results showed a negative correlation of caregiving with mental, physical, and self-rated health. Compared to noncaregivers, spousal caregivers and multiple caregivers were both associated with worsening mental, self-rated, and physical health. In contrast, adult child caregivers were only negatively associated with mental health, and grandparent caregiving did not significantly affect any health outcomes. Further heterogeneity analysis showed that gender did not moderate the relationship between caregiving and health, whereas the negative association between caregiving and health was more pronounced among the rural population and those employed in agriculture. Findings from the present study suggest that caregiving is detrimental to health, and recommend considering caregiver type when examining caregiving and health. These findings have vital implications for policymakers in addressing the challenges of structuring and implementing a sustainable informal care system.

Effects of family life cycle events on individual Body Mass Index trajectories: Evidence from China.

Body mass index (BMI) is an important predictor of one's physiological health. China is a family-centric nation compared to Western societies and has already entered an aged society. Exploring the characteristics and patterns of BMI changes during household events in China provides critical insights into the biological and social determinants of health, which can help enhance the scientific validity of health promotion measures and contribute to the realization of healthy aging goals in China. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1993 to 2015, this article utilizes two-level growth curve models with piecewise spline specifications for age to examine the effects of family life cycle events on BMI trajectories for age groups and gender differences. Compared to continuing status, experiencing transition in an individual's family life cycle could lead to more fluctuating variations in their BMI trajectories, generally, there is a faster increase in BMI during youth and a faster decline during old age. As for gender heterogeneity, males are more affected by divorce, widowhood, and empty nest, whereas females' BMI changes are influenced by entering/maintaining marriage and parenthood. A long-term perspective has revealed the significance of family events on BMI throughout the life course. Future research should focus on the nutrition and health of specific populations, especially elderly individuals in vulnerable groups.

Does retirement make people more risk averse?

We investigate whether retirement makes people more risk averse. Using a nationally representative household survey dataset from urban China, we adopt a local randomization regression discontinuity design to estimate the causal effect of retirement on risk attitudes. We find that males become more risk averse after they have retired while females do not; consistently, households tend to participate less in the stock market and invest a lower fraction of financial assets in stocks when their male heads retire but exhibit no such patterns when female heads retire. Therefore, the impact of retirement on risk attitudes exhibits significant gender heterogeneity. Pathway analyses suggest that the decrease in risk taking is largely driven by the decline in income flow after retirement.

결혼 전 주택소유, 미혼 청장년의 결혼확률과 결혼시기에 영향을 미치는가?

Single individuals consider housing problems as the primary determinant in their decision to marry in South Korea. If they own a house, are they less likely to avoid marriage and more inclined to marry sooner? To identify this, we investigate the impact of pre-marital homeownership on the transition to marriage and its timing. To do so, we exploit a linear probability model with two-way fixed effects. We find no significant evidence of pre-marital homeownership on the transition to marriage, consistent across individual characteristics. Similarly, we also find that there is no evidence of the effects of pre-marital homeownership on marriage timing. However, the evidence of gender heterogeneity reveals that the pre-marital homeownership has marriage-delaying effects for women. These findings suggest the necessity of government intervention to discourage owning a house before marriage.

PUBLICITY, FACILITIES DIVERSITY AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR HOUSEHOLD WASTE SORTING: NEW EVIDENCE FROM HETEROGENEITY REGRESSION

Household waste sorting is important to actively promote the construction of beautiful countryside and beautiful city via household waste reduction or recycling. The Law of China on the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Environmental Pollution indicates that household waste treatment fee system follows the principle of “who produces, who pays”, reflecting differentiated management such as classified pricing and metering fees. This research mainly investigates the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for household waste sorting in China. This study mainly compares different effects of the waste sorting information publicity, waste sorting facilities diversity, perceived convenience and reference group behavior on WTP via multiple and logistic regression. It also explores gender and regional heterogeneity for WTP of household waste sorting in China. This study also analyzes how individuals respond to different levels of WTP fees of household waste sorting via logistic regression. The empirical results reveal that the facilities diversity of waste sorting has the highest effect on WTP for household waste sorting, followed by perceived convenience, publicity and reference group behaviors. Females have relatively lower WTP than males. Education has significant positive effects on males’ waste sorting WTP. In logistic regression, reference group has larger effect on WTP compared with other antecedents. It is important to enhance facilities and publicity of household waste sorting. This research is of great significance to increase the household waste sorting behavior, enhance the governance system of household waste sorting via the collaboration of government, medias, communities and individuals.

Genetic variations in ACE2 gene associated with metabolic syndrome in southern China: a case–control study

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is closely related to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and genetic predisposition is one of the main triggers for its development. To identify the susceptibility genes for MetS, we investigated the relationship between angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and MetS in southern China. In total, 339 MetS patients and 398 non-MetS hospitalized patients were recruited. Four ACE2 polymorphisms (rs2074192, rs2106809, rs879922, and rs4646155) were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-ligase detection method and tested for their potential association with MetS and its related components. ACE2 rs2074192 and rs2106809 minor alleles conferred 2.485-fold and 3.313-fold greater risks of MetS in women. ACE2 rs2074192 and rs2106809 variants were risk factors for obesity, diabetes, and low–high-density lipoprotein cholesterolemia. However, in men, the ACE2 rs2074192 minor allele was associated with an approximately 0.525-fold reduction in MetS prevalence. Further comparing the components of MetS, ACE2 rs2074192 and rs2106809 variants reduced the risk of obesity and high triglyceride levels. In conclusion, ACE2 rs2074192 and rs2106809 SNPs were independently associated with MetS in a southern Chinese population and showed gender heterogeneity, which can be partially explained by obesity. Thus, these SNPs may be utilized as predictive biomarkers and molecular targets for MetS. A limitation of this study is that environmental and lifestyle differences, as well as genetic heterogeneity among different populations, were not considered in the analysis.

Study on the Impact of Children's Economic Support on Social Participation of Urban and Rural Elderly People

With the acceleration of China's aging population and the significant problem of fewer children, this study aims to explore the phenomenon of neglecting the social participation status of the elderly. To this end, the 2018 China Health and Elderly Care Tracking Survey was adopted. Using CHARLS data and STATA data analysis method to study the impact of children's economic support on the social participation of elderly people. The research results indicate that children's economic support has a significant positive impact on the social participation of the elderly, and this result is tested for endogeneity and robustness. The heterogeneity test between urban and rural areas shows that the positive impact of children's economic support on social participation of rural elderly is higher than that of urban elderly; Gender heterogeneity test shows that children's economic support has a positive impact on female social participation. Research has found that female participation has a higher positive impact than male participation. In addition, for elderly people who do not take care of their grandchildren, the economic support of their children has a significant negative impact on their social participation, while the positive impact on elderly people who take care of their grandchildren is not significant. The research in this article helps to clarify the actual impact of children's economic support on the social participation of the elderly, and improve the implementation effect of active aging policies.

Do photos matter? the effect of hosts’ facial features on customers’ booking intentions in peer-to-peer accommodation: heterogeneity of host gender

This study aims to investigate the effect of hosts’ facial features of different genders on customers’ booking intentions on the Airbnb shared accommodation platform. A comprehensive model was built to analyze hosts’ facial features in the United States (n = 105,084) through big data combined with an artificial intelligence facial recognition system. Results show that beauty, smile, aging, and wearing glasses positively affect customers’ booking intentions. There is gender heterogeneity in the effect of hosts’ facial features on customers’ booking intentions. Compared to female hosts, smiling is significant for male hosts, and wearing glasses has a greater impact on female hosts. Host reputation somewhat weakens the positive effect of host facial features on customers’ booking intentions, and the shared housing type strengthens the positive effect of facial features on customers’ booking intentions. This study provides insights into customer decision-making that may be influenced by hosts’ facial features.

Maternal immune activation induces sex-dependent behavioral differences in a rat model of schizophrenia.

Maternal immune activation (MIA) is a mature means to construct a schizophrenia model. However, some preclinical studies have reported that a MIA-induced schizophrenia model seemed to have gender heterogeneity in behavioral phenotype. On the other hand, the MIA's paradigms were diverse in different studies, and many details could affect the effect of MIA. To some extent, it is not credible and scientific to directly compare the gender differences of different MIA programs. Therefore, it is necessary to study whether the sex of the exposed offspring leads to behavioral differences on the premise of maintaining a consistent MIA mode. An animal model of schizophrenia was established by the administration of 10 mg/kg Poly (I: C) when dams were on day 9 of gestation. Then, a number of female and male offspring completed a series of behavioral tests during postnatal days 61-75. Compared with the female control group (n = 14), female MIA offspring (n = 12) showed a longer movement distance (d = 1.07, p < 0.05) and higher average speed (d = 1.08, p < 0.05) in the open field test (OFT). In the Y maze test, the percentage of entering the novel arm of female MIA offspring was lower (d = 0.92, p < 0.05). Compared with the male control group (n = 14), male MIA offspring (n = 13) displayed less movement distance (d = 0.93, p < 0.05) and a lower average speed (d = 0.94, p < 0.05) in the OFT. In the Y maze test, the proportion of exploration time in the novel arm of male MIA offspring was lower (d = 0.96, p < 0.05). In the EPM, male MIA offspring showed less time (d = 0.85, p < 0.05) and a lower percentage of time spent in the open arms (d = 0.85, p < 0.05). Male MIA offspring also had a lower PPI index (76 dB + 120 dB, d = 0.81, p < 0.05; 80 dB + 120 dB, d = 1.45, p < 0.01). Our results showed that the behavioral phenotypes induced by prenatal immune activation were highly dependent on the sex of the offspring.

Reforming Financial Literacy General Education in Colleges and Universities: Measurement of Financial Literacy level and Training Path of College Students in Higher Vocational Colleges in China

This study aims to evaluate the financial literacy levels of higher vocational college students in China through a questionnaire survey approach. It seeks to determine the overall financial literacy level and delve into the nuances of gender and family background heterogeneity. Drawing on existing methodological ideas for measuring financial literacy levels, this paper uses a questionnaire survey method to calculate the overall financial literacy level of higher vocational college students in my country. It also conducted an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of college students’ financial literacy levels from the perspectives of gender heterogeneity and family background heterogeneity. The results found that the overall financial literacy level of current college students in China is not high, with a quantitative score of only 39.18 points; regardless of basic financial literacy level, advanced financial literacy level, and overall financial literacy level, male college students' scores are generally higher than female college students. This difference is significant at the 1% level; college students in the financial group who have at least one parent with a financial degree or industry background have a higher financial literacy than college students in the non-financial group. The huge difference in the financial literacy of the two groups of college students is in the level of advanced financial literacy. It is more obvious. The research results suggest that colleges and universities should not only add general education to enhance financial literacy in general education courses but also set up financial literacy education courses at different stages based on students’ gender heterogeneity and family background heterogeneity.

The Spillover Effects of the Spouse's Retirement on Depression: Evidence From Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adult Couples.

The present study expands on previous research by examining whether the spouse's retirement affects individual depression both directly, by the changes in individual health investment, and indirectly, through the social interaction effect of the couples' depression. Using the panel data from the 2010-2018 China Family Panel Studies, we investigate the direct and indirect spillover effects of the spouse's retirement on depression among Chinese urban-worker couples (men aged 50-70, women aged 40-60; n = 10,466). To address the potential endogeneity and reflect the social interaction effect of the couples' depression, we combine the Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity method with simultaneous equations. Overall, a spouse's retirement would improve an individual's depression, with the direct spillover dominating compared to the indirect spillover. Gender heterogeneity indicates that husbands' depression is improved by wives' retirement mainly because husbands might receive more healthcare and companionship provided by their retired wives, while wives' depression is aggravated by husbands' retirement because of the decline in household income and the lesser health investment. This difference is more evident when wives retire earlier and both spouses retire in the same year. With the spouse's retirement years increasing, husbands' depression improves and wives' depression declines each year. Moreover, spouses' depression is significantly interactive, and wives' depression is more vulnerable to husbands' depression. The results highlight that the health spillover effects of the spouse's retirement need greater attention in future research and retirement reform.

Gender Differences in Analyst Stock Recommendations and Market Reactions

This paper provides evidence of gender heterogeneity in stock recommendations issued by analysts in China. The study finds that compared to male analysts, female analysts tend to have more conservative stock recommendations and lower levels of optimism. Male analysts are more likely to issue "buy" and "hold" recommendations, while female analysts are more likely to issue more conservative "neutral," "sell," and "reduce" recommendations. In the short term, the market reacts strongly to the ratings of female analysts, but their optimistic recommendations receive a poor response from investors. Investors may hold stereotypical beliefs towards female analysts, expecting them to adopt conservative strategies, and thus underestimate them when they make relatively optimistic suggestions. However, in the long term, there is no evident bias against female analysts in the market.

Educational and gender heterogeneity of the rural-urban earnings premium: New evidence from Norway

We explore urban earnings premiums for young, native, rural-to-urban movers in Norway. Using an augmented difference-in-differences estimator (DiD-TR) on microdata we challenge previous claims about urban earnings premium's size and sources. Conventional econometric estimators understate the static premium and overstate dynamic premiums. We find that migrants exhibit lower mean but faster pre-move earnings growth than non-migrants. Post-move, the static earnings premium dominates. The observed trajectory is related to frequent pre-move changes of industrial sector, presumably to obtain better job-worker matches. Post-move, these changes occur less frequently. Highly educated females exhibit largest static premiums (34%), less-educated females least (24%), males an intermediate amount. Our findings suggest that cities primarily generate earnings premiums through agglomeration-based efficiencies and superior job-worker matches varying heterogeneously by education and gender.