Early Industrialization and Later Marriage: The Sino-Soviet Alliance’s Impact on the Gender Gap in China
Prof. Jianfeng WU
Associate Professor, School of Economics
Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Date: 5 March 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 10:30-12:00
Venue: E22-G015
Host: Prof. Leona LI, Assistant Professor in Business Economics
Abstract
This paper examines the gender-specific effects of industrialization on marriage age, leveraging China’s Soviet-supported “156 Projects” launched in the 1950s as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a cohort difference-in-differences design, we find that early industrialization delayed the age at first marriage. Individuals who spent ages 0–16 in affected counties married, on average, 0.6 to 0.9 years later, with larger effects observed for women in remote counties far from natural resources and political centers. Furthermore, we find evidence of intergenerational persistence: children born in the 1960s and 1970s in treated counties also married later by about 1 to 2 years, indicating that the influence of early industrialization on marriage timing extends to the next generation. Our mechanism analysis suggests that the delay is primarily driven by increased educational opportunities for women resulting from the establishment of the 156 Project plants.
Speaker
Prof. Jianfeng WU is an Associate Professor of Economics at the China Center for Economic Studies (CCES) and the School of Economics, Fudan University. He also serves as Director of the Urban Economics Research Institute (UERI) and Associate Director of the Shanghai–Hong Kong Development Institute (SHDI) at Fudan University. His research focuses primarily on urban and regional economics, as well as real estate economics. Professor Wu has an extensive publication record in leading economics journals, including AEJ: Economic Policy and the Journal of Urban Economics. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the National University of Singapore in 2009.
All are welcome!
