Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: The Economic Motives for Foot-Binding
Author-Name: Xinyu Fan
Author-Email: xyfan@ckgsb.edu.cn
Author-Name: Lingwei Wu
Author-Email: lwuu@uni-bonn.de


Classification-JEL: N35, J16, O15, Z10
Keywords: Gender Norm, Marriage Market, Labor, Foot-binding

Abstract: We study foot-binding – a practice that reshaped millions of women’s feet in historical China, yet in lack of a consistent explanation of its temporal, regional, class, and size variation. We present a model of foot-binding, where it serves as a premarital investment tool in response to a male-specific social mobility shock, and women trade off labor distortions for marriage prospects. Furthermore, the regional shifts on both sides of the trade-off explained its observed variation. Using county-level archival data on foot-binding, we corroborate the theory with empirical evidence. 

Note: 
Length: 61
Creation-Date: 2020-06
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp187
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2020_187