Research

Publications

Xinwei Dong, Dean Hyslop, and Daiji Kawaguchi (2024). "Skill, Productivity and Wages: Direct Evidence from a Temporary Help Agency", Journal of Labor Economics, 42(S1).

Firms frequently provide general skill training for workers. Theories propose that labor market frictions entail wage compression, generate larger productivity gains than wage growth to skill acquisition, and motivate a firm to offer general skill training, but few studies directly test them. We use unusually rich data from a temporary help service firm that records both workers’ wages and their productivity as measured by the fees charged to client firms. We find that skill acquired through training and learning by doing increases productivity more than wages, with such wage compression accounting for half of the average 40% productivity growth over 5 years of tenure.

Xinwei Dong (2022). "Intrahousehold Property Ownership, Women's Bargaining Power, and Family Structure", Labour Economics, 78.

This study investigates the effect of intrahousehold property ownership on family structure using a difference- in-differences (DID) strategy and an exogenous source of variation in housing property ownership in China. Specifically, a 2011 revision of the marriage law changed the property division rule upon divorce from an equal division to a title-based division under certain circumstances, leading to a loss in intrahousehold property ownership for some women. The main results show that the loss of housing property ownership deteriorates wives’ outside option, lowers the probability of divorce and increases the likelihood that they will remain in a low quality marriage. Further effects include an inducement for the husband’s parents to move in, who bring more traditional gender norms to the core family, become involved in household decision-making and thus influence the young couple’s behaviors. Consequently, women are less likely to work in the labor market and shoulder a greater share of chores between themselves and their husbands. Heterogeneity analyses show that higher property values are associated with larger treatment effects. This study provides evidence of a chain of events in intrahousehold bar- gaining in which an external shock to one spouse’s outside option changes the intrahousehold bargaining power and consequently changes household decisions including family structure. Moreover, it highlights the importance of considering the family structure when interpreting other aspects of bargaining outcomes.

Xinwei Dong (2020). "Effect of birth interval on the first child’s nutrition status: Evidence from China.", Labour Economics, 67.

This study investigates the effect of the birth interval between the first and second siblings on the nutrition status of the first child. To estimate the causal effect, I exploit an exogenous source of variation in the birth interval led by a Chinese regulation that forced a long interval as a curb on fertility. It is shown that an increase in the birth interval leads to an improvement in the first child's height-for-age score and a decrease in the probability of the first child suffering a stunt in growth. Quantile regression results indicate a larger effect in the lower end of the height distribution. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that girls, especially those with younger brothers, benefit more from long birth intervals, implying that resource dilution is a key mechanism producing this heterogeneity in the estimated effects.

Working Papers

"Are Gender Gaps in Competitive Preferences Shaped by Gender-Biased Culture? Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey Experiment in China" (with Kelin Lu) (first version: January 2025, current version: July 2025)

"Microcredit Expansion and Education: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Thailand" (with Saisawat Samutpradit) (first version: January 2024, current version: July 2025)

"Parental Job Loss and Children's Educational Outcomes" (Job market paper, first version: November 2022, current version: July 2025)

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