Title: The Fertility, Marriage, and Gender Equality Quandary

Speaker: Linshuo Zhou, Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong

Host: Suzuki Yuta, Assistant Professor, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Time: 14:00–15:30, Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Venue: Room A503, Antai College of Economics and Management, Xuhui Campus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Brief introduction of the content: 

This paper studies the nexus among fertility, family structure, and gender income equality. I document a novel three-way trade-off in the data: simultaneously achieving high fertility, low single parenthood, and gender income equality is unlikely at all levels of economic development. I develop a unified theory in which this trade-off arises endogenously in equilibrium.  Among various policy instruments, reducing women's child-rearing costs stands out as the unique one that mitigates the trade-off, but the policy costs grow as productivity increases. Calibrating the model to Mexico's experience from 1990 to 2015, I quantify the effects of gender-neutral versus gender-biased productivity growth.

Speaker's profile:

Dr. Anson Linshuo Zhou has been an assistant professor in the HKU business school since 2023. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Hong Kong.  Anson’s research interest lies in macroeconomics and labor economics, with a particular focus on fertility, human capital, inequality, and intergenerational mobility.

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