Author(s)

Yihan Li

Corresponding Author

Yihan Li

ABSTRACT

This paper observes and researches a social problem in China, which is the marital anxiety of female. It firstly applies the framework of neoclassical economics to analyse economic reasons for the marriage tendency of Chinese females from aspects of insurance system, trade-off between benefits and costs, as well as social efficiency. The paper also adopts the framework of behavioral economics to discuss irrational marital behaviors and decisions under the current trend, in which psychological effects associated with the recency effect, social reinforcement and regret aversion are included. In order to guide the rational and proper marital decisions of Chinese females in the 21st Century, discussion and suggestions to the social policy and individual actions aiming at are provided.

KEYWORDS

Neoclassical economics, behavioral economics, recency effect, social reinforcement, regret aversion, marriage choices in China