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Gender Bias and U.S. International Adoptions

Author

Listed:
  • Channary Khun

    (International Fund for Agricultural Development)

  • Sokchea Lim

    (John Carroll University)

Abstract

An earlier study shows that there are no gender preferences among U.S. adoptive parents of international adoption. Yet, every year the U.S. adopts more girls than boys from various countries in the world. Thus, this paper investigates the effect of gender bias in 178 nations on skewed gender composition of U.S. adoptions over the last decades. Using female to male infant mortality rate as a proxy for postnatal discrimination against daughters, we find that the degree of discrimination in sending countries positively affects the excess of female to male adoptions. A one percentage point increase in the relative mortality rate of female to male infants in a sending country leads to U.S. adoptions of two more girls than boys. In addition, we show that the income of the sending country matters for the impact of gender discrimination on the gender difference of U.S. adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Channary Khun & Sokchea Lim, 2021. "Gender Bias and U.S. International Adoptions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(4), pages 2529-2542.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-21-00451
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2021/Volume41/EB-21-V41-I4-P218.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    international adoptions; adoptions by U.S. parents; gender discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior

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