On the afternoon of December 1, Associate Professor Zeyu Zhang and Dr. Xiaoyan Tan from the Macro Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) of Huazhong Agricultural University presented on the topics “Does Education Reduce the Female Fertility Penalty?” and “Digital Financial Inclusion and Rural Residents' Sense of Social Equity,” respectively. The event was moderated by Associate Professor Xiaotian Liu from the School of Economics and Management.

Associate Professor Zeyu Zhang began with the research background, theoretical hypotheses, model construction, research content, and conclusions. He analyzed the correlation between education and the female fertility penalty, empirically examining the relationship between education, fertility, and the income of married women. He also engaged in a lively discussion with the reviewing faculty on issues related to data cross-section processing and endogeneity.

Dr. Xiaoyan Tan presented on the impact of digital financial inclusion on the sense of social equity among rural residents in China. She covered the introduction, theoretical hypotheses and research mechanisms, research design, empirical results and analysis, impact mechanism tests, further discussions, and research conclusions and insights. By constructing a generalized ordered Logit model, she examined how digital financial inclusion affects the sense of social fairness among rural residents and the mechanisms behind this impact. Her findings offer valuable policy insights for bridging the digital divide and optimizing digital financial services. She also discussed with participants the selection of instrumental variables and the influence of provincial and municipal data on the results.