关键词: 初育年龄推迟, 女性经济收入, 家庭政策环境, 时期效应

Abstract: Does delaying age of first childbearing bring economic benefits to women? Previous studies have failed to reach a sufficient consensus. This paper argues that family's policy environment is the key factor to understand the impact of birth timing on women's labor market income. Different institutional environment has shaped the situation of women's human capital investment and its impact on women's career development and long-term economic income before and after childbearing. Based on the longitudinal data of 9 periods of “China Health and Nutrition Survey”, this study uses the Fixed Effect Models to test the impact of the postponement of age of first birth on women's labor market income under the special environment of China's fertility policy. Results suggest that late childbearing within a certain age range is conducive to the improvement of women's income level; women with urban household registration, higher education level, and first birth in the recent past can gain more rewards for late childbearing. From the perspective of economic rationality, this study provides another possible explanation for the delaying age of childbearing in China.

Keywords: Postponement of First Childbearing, Women's Labor Market Income, Family's Policy Environment, Temporal Effects