Using variations in the timing of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) across rural Chinese counties, we examine its effects on eldercare mode, child investment, and son preference. Our findings are three-fold: (1) After the introduction of NRPS, married sons are less likely to live with and provide care for their parents, while married daughters show no significant change in their caregiving behavior; (2) Parents reduce the brideprice for their sons but not the dowry for their daughters; (3) The sex ratio at birth becomes more balanced, indicating a reduction in son preference. These results suggest that public pension programs can significantly influence traditional family dynamics, including eldercare modes and cultural norms around gender preference.
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- Ph.D. in Economics, University of Pennsylvania Sep. 2009 – May. 2014
- B.A. in Finance, Peking University Aug. 2005 – Jul. 2009
Naijia Guo is currently an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong. She received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and a B.A. in finance from Peking University in 2009. Her primary research fields are labor economics and family economics, and she specializes in structural labor. Naijia’s research covers a wide range of topics, including education, wages, unemployment, migration, and intra-household decisions. Her papers have been published in the International Economic Review, the Economic Journal, Quantitative Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, and the Journal of Comparative Economics.
- Introductory Econometrics (Undergraduate)
- Computational Methods in Economics (Graduate)
- Labor Economics (Graduate)
- Labor Economics
- Family Economics
- “The Effect of an Early Career Recession on Schooling and Lifetime Welfare” (International Economic Review, 2018, 59 (3), 1511-1545)
- “Do Elite Colleges Matter? Its Impact on Entrepreneurship Decisions and Career Dynamics” (with Charles Ka Yui Leung, Quantitative Economics, 2021, 12 (4), 1347-1397)
- “A Matching Model of Co-residence with a Family Network: Empirical Evidence from China” (with Xiaoyu Xia and Junsen Zhang, The Economic Journal, 2022, 132(648), 2873-2917)
- “Home Location Choice and Gender Gap in Commute” (with Yizhen Gu, Jing Wu, and Ben Zou, Journal of Human Resources, 2024, 59(2), 545-575)
- “Tutoring Efficacy, Household Substitution, and Student Achievement: Experimental Evidence from an After-School Tutoring Program in Rural China” (with Jere Behrman, Simon Fan, Xiangdong Wei, Hongliang Zhang, and Junsen Zhang, International Economic Review, 2024, 65(1), 149-189)
- “The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Free Education on Schooling: Direct Effects and Intra-Household Spillovers” (with Shuangxin Wang and Junsen Zhang, The Economic Journal, 2024,134(663), 2876-2911)
- “Public Pensions and Family Dynamics: Eldercare, Child Investment, and Son Preference in Rural China” (with Wei Huang and Ruixin Wang, Journal of Development Economics, 2025, 172, 103390)
- 2023-2025 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “Life-cycle Earnings Profiles and Wage Dynamics of Chinese Workers.”
- 2022-2025 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “Gender Pay Gap, Residential Location Choice, and Work Location Choice.”
- 2017-2019 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “The Impact of Parental Input and Child Care Input on Early Childhood Development.”
- 2016-2018 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Early Career Scheme (ECS), ”What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur? A Model of Intergenerational Transfer and Education Choice.”
Reviewer of Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Labor Economics, International Economic Review, Quantitative Economics, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Population Economics, Health Economics, China Economic Review, Review of Economics of the Household, Pacific Economic Review, Contemporary Economic Policy.
This study estimates the direct and spillover effects of a free education programme on educational outcomes in rural China. We find that, although the programme encourages more eligible children to attend secondary school, it also leads to a decrease in high school enrolment among ineligible girls with eligible siblings, as they are more likely to choose work instead. In the long run, males exposed to free education have more years of schooling than their non-exposed counterparts. However, such effect is not found among females. This disparity suggests that a gender-neutral policy may have an asymmetric effect between males and females because of spillover effects through intra-household resource allocation.