National University of Singapore, and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author
Current position
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, National University of Singapore
Research interest
Income inequality and mobility, demography, and the Chinese labor market
Website
Past positions
Visiting Scholar, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, USA, 2008–2009; Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of New South Wales, Australia, 1998–1999
Qualifications
PhD Economics, University of Western Ontario, 1999
Selected publications
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“Genetic ability and intergenerational earnings mobility.” Journal of Population Economics 22:1 (2009): 75–95 (with J. Zeng).
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“Economic reforms and gender inequality in urban China.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 59:4 (2011): 839–876.
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“Is there a quality-quantity tradeoff? Evidence from the relaxation of China’s one child policy.” Journal of Population Economics 27:2 (2014): 565–602.
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“Primary school availability and middle school education in rural china.” Labour Economics 28 (2014): 24–40 (with L. Li).
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“Dynamic pricing in the Singapore condominium market.” Economics Letters 124:1 (2014): 147–150 (with E. Fesselmeyer).
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The quantity–quality fertility–education trade-off
Policies to reduce fertility in developing countries generally boost education levels, but only slightly
Haoming Liu, May 2015At the national level, it has long been observed that a country’s average education level is negatively associated with its total fertility rate. At the household level, it has also been well documented that children’s education is negatively associated with the number of children in the family. Do these observations imply a causal relationship between the number of children and the average education level (the quantity–quality trade-off)? A clear answer to this question will help both policymakers and researchers evaluate the total benefit of family planning policies, both policies to lower fertility and policies to boost it.MoreLess