Jin-tan Liu | National Taiwan University (original) (raw)

Papers by Jin-tan Liu

Social Science Research Network, 2022

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Oct 1, 2003

Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of conc... more Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of concern about the threat posed by SARS to Taiwan and to residents, although respondents believe they are knowledgeable about the risk of SARS and that it is susceptible to individual control. WTP to reduce the risk of infection and death from SARS is elicited using contingent valuation methods. Estimated WTP is high, implying values per statistical life of US$3 to 12 million. While consistent with estimates for high-income countries, these values are substantially larger than previous estimates for Taiwan and may be attributable to the high degree of concern about SARS at the time the data were collected.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Oct 1, 2003

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environ... more We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to environmental contaminants and manifestation of any resulting disease, at a 1.5 percent annual rate for a 20 year latency period. WTP to reduce the risk of cancer is estimated to be about one-third larger than WTP to reduce risk of a similar chronic, degenerative disease. The value of risk reduction also depends on the affected organ, environmental pathway, or payment mechanism: estimated WTP to reduce the risk of lung disease due to industrial air pollution is twice as large as WTP to reduce the risk of liver disease due to contaminated drinking water.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of t... more The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Journal of Human Capital, Jun 27, 2023

This paper exploits a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of parental education on c... more This paper exploits a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of parental education on child health in Taiwan. In 1968, the Taiwanese government extended compulsory education from six to nine years. From that year through 1973, the government opened 254 new junior high schools, an 80 percent increase, at a differential rate among regions. We form treatment and control groups of women or men who were age 12 or under on the one hand and between the ages of 13 and 20 or 25 on the other hand in 1968. Within each region, we exploit variations across cohorts in new junior high school openings to construct an instrument for schooling. We employ this instrument to estimate the causal effects of mother's or father's schooling on the incidence of low birthweight and mortality of infants born to women in the treatment and control groups or the wives of men in these groups in the period from 1978 through 1999. Parents' schooling, especially mother's schooling, does indeed cause favorable infant health outcomes. The increase in schooling associated with the reform saved almost 1 infant life in 1,000 live births, resulting in a decline in infant mortality of approximately 11 percent.

Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of conc... more Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of concern about the threat posed by SARS to Taiwan and to residents, although respondents believe they are knowledgeable about the risk of SARS and that it is susceptible to individual control. WTP to reduce the risk of infection and death from SARS is elicited using contingent valuation methods. Estimated WTP is high, implying values per statistical life of US$3 to 12 million. While consistent with estimates for high-income countries, these values are substantially larger than previous estimates for Taiwan and may be attributable to the high degree of concern about SARS at the time the data were collected.

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 2004

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environ... more We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to environmental contaminants and manifestation of any resulting disease, at a 1.5 percent annual rate for a 20 year latency period. WTP to reduce the risk of cancer is estimated to be about one-third larger than WTP to reduce risk of a similar chronic, degenerative disease. The value of risk reduction also depends on the affected organ, environmental pathway, or payment mechanism: estimated WTP to reduce the risk of lung disease due to industrial air pollution is twice as large as WTP to reduce the risk of liver disease due to contaminated drinking water.

Journal of Human Resources, Jul 7, 2017

anonymous referees, and participants in universities and the 2009 NBER Education and Children Pro... more anonymous referees, and participants in universities and the 2009 NBER Education and Children Programs. We acknowledge financial support from the Academia Sinica Career Award (103-H02), Taiwan's National Science Council (NSC101-2628-H-001-001-MY3) and National Health Research Institute. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Social Science Research Network, 2023

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2013

Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentra... more Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentrate investment in boys for a given family size. Thus, having a brother (relative to a sister) may affect the human capital formation of a child in two ways: an indirect effect by decreasing family size, and a direct effect where family size remains constant. Conventional estimation of the di- rect effect requires observed family size to be fixed as sibling sex composition changes. But son-preferring fertility-stopping rules suggest that observed fam- ily size cannot be truly fixed, which leaves neither of the effects well defined. By allowing potential family size to change, we redefine and estimate the di- rect and indirect e ects using 0.8 million Taiwanese first-borns. We find that neither effect is important in explaining first-born boys' education levels. In contrast, first-born girls receive a negative direct effect and a positive indirect effect, both being statistically signi cant and cancelling each other out. This result offers new evidence of sibling rivalry and gender bias in family settings that has not been detected in the previous literature.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Mar 1, 2009

Son-preferring parents tend to continue to have babies until a son's birth. After deciding the se... more Son-preferring parents tend to continue to have babies until a son's birth. After deciding the set of children, the parents with resource constraints may divert family sources from daughters to a son. Thus, the presence of a son, relative to a daughter, have 2 distinct effects on his sister's educational outcomes: the direct effect while holding constant family size and the indirect effect through decreasing family size. Previous estimates of the direct effect take family size as an exogenous and predetermined covariate, and assume the indirect effect to be captured by the main effect of family size. However, family

Social Science & Medicine, Dec 1, 2022

While existing studies have reported and recognized country-of-origin effects on the intentions t... more While existing studies have reported and recognized country-of-origin effects on the intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19 among individual citizens in some countries, the causal mechanism behind such effects to inform public health policymakers remain unexplored. Adding up a quality cue explanation for such effects to the existing literature, the authors argue that individual consumers are less willing to get a vaccine designed and manufactured by a country with a significantly lower quality perception than other countries. A survey experiment that recruited a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese adults (n = 1951) between December 13, 2020 and January 11, 2021 was designed and conducted to test the argument. We find that all else equal, Taiwanese respondents were on average less likely to express stronger willingness to take a vaccine from China than from the US, Germany, and Taiwan. Furthermore, even when the intrinsic quality of the vaccine was held constant by the experimental design, respondents still had a significantly lower quality perception of the vaccine from China, both in terms of perceived protection and severe side effects. Further evidence from casual mediation analyses shows that about 33% and 11% of the total average causal effects of the “China” country-of-origin label on vaccine uptake intention were respectively mediated through the perceived efficacy of protection and perceived risk of experiencing severe side effects. We conclude that quality cue constitutes one of many casual mechanisms behind widely reported country-of-origin effects on intention to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Economics of Education Review, Feb 1, 2000

Social Science Research Network, 2022

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Oct 1, 2003

Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of conc... more Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of concern about the threat posed by SARS to Taiwan and to residents, although respondents believe they are knowledgeable about the risk of SARS and that it is susceptible to individual control. WTP to reduce the risk of infection and death from SARS is elicited using contingent valuation methods. Estimated WTP is high, implying values per statistical life of US$3 to 12 million. While consistent with estimates for high-income countries, these values are substantially larger than previous estimates for Taiwan and may be attributable to the high degree of concern about SARS at the time the data were collected.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Oct 1, 2003

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environ... more We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to environmental contaminants and manifestation of any resulting disease, at a 1.5 percent annual rate for a 20 year latency period. WTP to reduce the risk of cancer is estimated to be about one-third larger than WTP to reduce risk of a similar chronic, degenerative disease. The value of risk reduction also depends on the affected organ, environmental pathway, or payment mechanism: estimated WTP to reduce the risk of lung disease due to industrial air pollution is twice as large as WTP to reduce the risk of liver disease due to contaminated drinking water.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of t... more The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Journal of Human Capital, Jun 27, 2023

This paper exploits a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of parental education on c... more This paper exploits a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of parental education on child health in Taiwan. In 1968, the Taiwanese government extended compulsory education from six to nine years. From that year through 1973, the government opened 254 new junior high schools, an 80 percent increase, at a differential rate among regions. We form treatment and control groups of women or men who were age 12 or under on the one hand and between the ages of 13 and 20 or 25 on the other hand in 1968. Within each region, we exploit variations across cohorts in new junior high school openings to construct an instrument for schooling. We employ this instrument to estimate the causal effects of mother's or father's schooling on the incidence of low birthweight and mortality of infants born to women in the treatment and control groups or the wives of men in these groups in the period from 1978 through 1999. Parents' schooling, especially mother's schooling, does indeed cause favorable infant health outcomes. The increase in schooling associated with the reform saved almost 1 infant life in 1,000 live births, resulting in a decline in infant mortality of approximately 11 percent.

Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of conc... more Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of concern about the threat posed by SARS to Taiwan and to residents, although respondents believe they are knowledgeable about the risk of SARS and that it is susceptible to individual control. WTP to reduce the risk of infection and death from SARS is elicited using contingent valuation methods. Estimated WTP is high, implying values per statistical life of US$3 to 12 million. While consistent with estimates for high-income countries, these values are substantially larger than previous estimates for Taiwan and may be attributable to the high degree of concern about SARS at the time the data were collected.

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 2004

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environ... more We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to environmental contaminants and manifestation of any resulting disease, at a 1.5 percent annual rate for a 20 year latency period. WTP to reduce the risk of cancer is estimated to be about one-third larger than WTP to reduce risk of a similar chronic, degenerative disease. The value of risk reduction also depends on the affected organ, environmental pathway, or payment mechanism: estimated WTP to reduce the risk of lung disease due to industrial air pollution is twice as large as WTP to reduce the risk of liver disease due to contaminated drinking water.

Journal of Human Resources, Jul 7, 2017

anonymous referees, and participants in universities and the 2009 NBER Education and Children Pro... more anonymous referees, and participants in universities and the 2009 NBER Education and Children Programs. We acknowledge financial support from the Academia Sinica Career Award (103-H02), Taiwan's National Science Council (NSC101-2628-H-001-001-MY3) and National Health Research Institute. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Social Science Research Network, 2023

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 1, 2013

Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentra... more Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentrate investment in boys for a given family size. Thus, having a brother (relative to a sister) may affect the human capital formation of a child in two ways: an indirect effect by decreasing family size, and a direct effect where family size remains constant. Conventional estimation of the di- rect effect requires observed family size to be fixed as sibling sex composition changes. But son-preferring fertility-stopping rules suggest that observed fam- ily size cannot be truly fixed, which leaves neither of the effects well defined. By allowing potential family size to change, we redefine and estimate the di- rect and indirect e ects using 0.8 million Taiwanese first-borns. We find that neither effect is important in explaining first-born boys' education levels. In contrast, first-born girls receive a negative direct effect and a positive indirect effect, both being statistically signi cant and cancelling each other out. This result offers new evidence of sibling rivalry and gender bias in family settings that has not been detected in the previous literature.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Mar 1, 2009

Son-preferring parents tend to continue to have babies until a son's birth. After deciding the se... more Son-preferring parents tend to continue to have babies until a son's birth. After deciding the set of children, the parents with resource constraints may divert family sources from daughters to a son. Thus, the presence of a son, relative to a daughter, have 2 distinct effects on his sister's educational outcomes: the direct effect while holding constant family size and the indirect effect through decreasing family size. Previous estimates of the direct effect take family size as an exogenous and predetermined covariate, and assume the indirect effect to be captured by the main effect of family size. However, family

Social Science & Medicine, Dec 1, 2022

While existing studies have reported and recognized country-of-origin effects on the intentions t... more While existing studies have reported and recognized country-of-origin effects on the intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19 among individual citizens in some countries, the causal mechanism behind such effects to inform public health policymakers remain unexplored. Adding up a quality cue explanation for such effects to the existing literature, the authors argue that individual consumers are less willing to get a vaccine designed and manufactured by a country with a significantly lower quality perception than other countries. A survey experiment that recruited a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese adults (n = 1951) between December 13, 2020 and January 11, 2021 was designed and conducted to test the argument. We find that all else equal, Taiwanese respondents were on average less likely to express stronger willingness to take a vaccine from China than from the US, Germany, and Taiwan. Furthermore, even when the intrinsic quality of the vaccine was held constant by the experimental design, respondents still had a significantly lower quality perception of the vaccine from China, both in terms of perceived protection and severe side effects. Further evidence from casual mediation analyses shows that about 33% and 11% of the total average causal effects of the “China” country-of-origin label on vaccine uptake intention were respectively mediated through the perceived efficacy of protection and perceived risk of experiencing severe side effects. We conclude that quality cue constitutes one of many casual mechanisms behind widely reported country-of-origin effects on intention to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Economics of Education Review, Feb 1, 2000