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Human and Social Capital Dynamics in Economic Crises: The Impact on Poor Chinese Migrant Children in Hong Kong During the Far East Economic Crisis

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Economic Stress, Human Capital, and Families in Asia

Part of the book series: Quality of Life in Asia ((QLAS,volume 4))

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Abstract

This chapter examines the dynamics of social and human capital during a time of economic crisis. Drawing on poor Mainland migrant children in Hong Kong as a case study and exploring their changing lives during the Far East Economic Crisis in the late 1990s, this research suggests that increasing women’s participation in the labor market, in order to compensate for the reduction in family incomes, has reduced social capital but not necessarily human capital of the migrant children. However, the effect of the changing gendered roles of men and women within families, caused by the economic crisis, has nevertheless resulted in some negative impact on the migrant children’s human capital.

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Correspondence to Sam Wong .

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Wong, S. (2013). Human and Social Capital Dynamics in Economic Crises: The Impact on Poor Chinese Migrant Children in Hong Kong During the Far East Economic Crisis. In: Yeung, WJ., Yap, M. (eds) Economic Stress, Human Capital, and Families in Asia. Quality of Life in Asia, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7386-8_11

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