城镇已婚女性就业如何影响家庭消费

How Urban Married Women’s Employment Affects Household Consumption

摘要: 中国居民消费持续低迷的现实问题由来已久。本文运用2017中国家庭金融调查(CHFS)数据，以同社区中同收入水平的其他已婚女性就业率作为工具变量，实证考察城镇已婚女性就业对家庭消费的影响。结果表明，城镇已婚女性就业显著提高家庭消费；对作用机制进行验证发现，家庭总收入增加和边际消费倾向提高是已婚女性就业促进城镇家庭消费的重要机制，其中收入增长对低收入家庭消费提高的作用更大，边际消费倾向提高对高收入家庭消费提高的作用更大；已婚女性就业对各类家庭消费均具有积极影响，但对发展型消费的促进作用更大。

Abstract: The reality of persistently low household consumption in China has been a long-standing problem. Using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this paper empirically analyzes the impact of urban married female employment on household consumption using the employment rate of other married females of the same income level in the same community as an instrumental variable. The findings show that married female employment can significantly increase household consumption; the validation of the mechanism of action finds that the increase in total household income and the increase in marginal propensity to consume are important mechanisms for married female employment to promote urban household consumption, among which the mechanism of income growth is more effective in increasing consumption of low-income households and the mechanism of marginal propensity to consume is more effective in increasing consumption of high-income households; married female employment has a significant effect on all types of household consumption, but it has a greater promoting effect on developmental consumption.