Advancement to Candidacy Presentation: “The Persistent Grip of Origin Culture on Immigrants”, Wenbei Zhang, University of California, Santa Barbara

Speaker

Wenbei Zhang, University of California, Santa Barbara

Biography

Wenbei Zhang is a Ph.D. student in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to attending UC Santa Barbara, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Finance from Zhejiang University (2019), and a Master of Science in Agricultural & Resource Economics from the University of Alberta (2021). She also hold a Master of Arts in Economics from UC Santa Barbara (2023).

Her research interests lie in applied microeconomics and energy economics. Her current projects examine cultural persistence among immigrants and the effects of urban zoning reforms on housing markets. She is also interested in time-series price analysis.

Title

“The Persistent Grip of Origin Culture on Immigrants”

Abstract

Do origin-country policy changes echo in the fertility behavior of immigrants who live under a different legal regime? We study Chinese immigrants in the United States around China’s staged relaxations of birth limits between 2011 and 2016, culminating in the universal Two-Child Policy, a rare large-scale policy experiment in one of the world’s largest economies. Using parity-specific U.S. Vital Statistics for 2004–2019, we estimate difference-in-differences and generalized synthetic control models comparing Chinese to other Asian-origin mothers. Births to first-generation Chinese mothers rise in the reform windows, with pronounced increases at second births and shorter intervals between first and second births; we also document changes among second-generation women, mainly at first births. The patterns indicate that origin-country fertility policy can shape the timing and parity of births among immigrants even when the legal regime in the host country is unchanged.

JEL Codes: J13, J15, J61, O15, Z13

Event Details

Wenbei will be presenting her Advancement to Candidacy paper, “The Persistent Grip of Origin Culture on
Immigrants”. To access the Advancement paper, you must have an active UCSB NetID and password.

PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE, PRELIMINARY WORK