Events

Intergenerational Mobility of Daughters and Marital Sorting: New Evidence from Imperial China

During this Quantitative History Webinar, Wolfgang Keller of the University of Colorado Boulder will present his latest research with his co-author Carol H. Shiue studying the role of marriage for women’s intergenerational mobility using original information on women’s status from family histories of Central China over the 15th to 19th century. Their latest research documents that women who are first wives have higher status than other wives, which is supported both by relatively strong positive sorting between biological and in-law families for first-wife marriages and by the relatively high status of the husbands of the first wives. As early as the 15th century, daughters with high-status fathers are more likely to be the first wife in their households. Further, accounting for the role of marriage changes the understanding of the level, sources, and trends in the intergenerational mobility of daughters. In particular, due to positive sorting, a focus on biological family would considerably overestimate father-daughter mobility. In addition, the intergenerational contribution to daughter status from the in-law family is about 40%, which is crucial for consistent comparisons of mobility as the extent of marital sorting fell over time. Overall, the implied level of mobility between father and daughter is comparable to that between father and son, and once marital sorting is accounted for, the intergenerational mobility of daughters follows a similar trend as that of the son as well.

Wolfgang’s co-author: Carol H. Shiue (University of Colorado Boulder)

Discussant: Hao Dong (Peking University)

Live on Zoom on September 7, 2023
10:00 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore
11:00 Tokyo | 12:00 Sydney
Previous Day 19:00 Los Angeles | 22:00 New York on September 6

The Quantitative History (QH) Webinar Series aims to provide researchers, teachers, and students with an online intellectual platform to keep up to date with the latest research in the field, promoting the dissemination of research findings and interdisciplinary use of quantitative methods in historical research. The QH Webinar Series, now entering its fourth year, is co-organized by Centre for Quantitative History at the HKU Business School and International Society for Quantitative History in partnership with Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Series is now substantially supported by the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [AoE/B-704/22-R]). 量化歷史網上講座系列由香港大學陳志武和馬馳騁教授聯合發起，旨在介紹前沿量化歷史研究成果、促進同仁交流，推廣量化方法在歷史研究中的應用。本系列講座由香港大學經管學院量化歷史研究中心和國際量化歷史學會承辦，及香港人文社會研究所全力支持。從2023年開始，系列得到中國香港特別行政區研究資助局卓越學科領域計劃的重要資助 (項目編號[AoE/B-704/22-R])。

Conveners:
Professor Zhiwu Chen
Dr. Chicheng Ma