IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctl/louvir/2023003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gender Gap, Intra Household Bargaining and Sex Selective Abortion in Albania

Author

Listed:
  • Keiti Kondi

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

Abstract

Among European countries, Albania has by far the highest sex ratio at birth with 1.12 boys per girl, compared to the European average of 1.058. Considering this disbalance, this study analyzes the relative importance of three underlying mechanisms: sex bias in parents’ preferences for children, the gender gap in intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. We develop a parsimonious model which incorporates different utilities for boys and girls, the bargaining between family members, and the decision about abortion dependent on its cost and including social stigma. We calibrate the model using data from the Demographic and Health Survey dataset on Albania for the year 2008 by measuring the preference for children of both sexes by the time invested in the child, education, violence, and women empowerment by how independent are women in taking their own decisions. We find that if we increase gender empowerment and equalize preference in children, the sex ratio decreases by 0.04 but it remains above its biological value. This residual could be interpreted as cultural norms affecting the decision-making and not allowing the above indicators in bringing sex ratios down to their biological values. To conclude we discuss different policies that can help in the decline of the sex ratio disparity while accounting for norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Keiti Kondi, 2023. "Gender Gap, Intra Household Bargaining and Sex Selective Abortion in Albania," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023003, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2023003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2023003.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoram Ben-Porath & Finis Welch, 1976. "Do Sex Preferences Really Matter?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(2), pages 285-307.
    2. Dirk Bethmann & Michael Kvasnicka, 2013. "World War II, Missing Men and Out of Wedlock Childbearing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(567), pages 162-194, March.
    3. Susan Himmelweit, & Almudena Sevilla-Sanz, & Christina Santos, & Catherine Sofer, 2013. "Sharing of Resources within the Family and the Economics of Household Decision-making," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-01122285, HAL.
    4. Ran Abramitzky & Adeline Delavande & Luis Vasconcelos, 2011. "Marrying Up: The Role of Sex Ratio in Assortative Matching," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 124-157, July.
    5. Monica Das Gupta & Jiang Zhenghua & Li Bohua & Xie Zhenming & Woojin Chung & Bae Hwa-Ok, 2003. "Why is Son preference so persistent in East and South Asia? a cross-country study of China, India and the Republic of Korea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 153-187.
    6. Douglas Almond & Lena Edlund & Kevin Milligan, 2013. "Son Preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from South and East Asian Immigrants to Canada," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(1), pages 75-95, March.
    7. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2017. "The Lasting Effect of Sex Ratio Imbalance on Marriage and Family: Evidence from World War II in Russia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(2), pages 229-242, May.
    8. Christophe Z. Guilmoto & Nora Dudwick & Arjan Gjonça & Laura Rahm, 2018. "How Do Demographic Trends Change? The Onset of Birth Masculinization in Albania, Georgia, and Vietnam 1990–2005," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(1), pages 37-61, March.
    9. Jason Abrevaya, 2009. "Are There Missing Girls in the United States? Evidence from Birth Data," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 1-34, April.
    10. Gautam Hazarika & Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi, 2019. "Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1101-1123, October.
    11. Deepankar Basu & Robert Jong, 2010. "Son targeting fertility behavior: Some consequences and determinants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(2), pages 521-536, May.
    12. Monica Das Gupta & Woojin Chung & Li Shuzhuo, 2009. "Evidence for an Incipient Decline in Numbers of Missing Girls in China and India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 401-416, June.
    13. Daniel Goodkind, 2015. "The claim that China's fertility restrictions contributed to the use of prenatal sex selection: A sceptical reappraisal," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(3), pages 263-279, November.
    14. Lena Edlund & Hongbin Li & Junjian Yi & Junsen Zhang, 2013. "Sex Ratios and Crime: Evidence from China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1520-1534, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eleanor Jawon Choi & Jisoo Hwang, 2020. "Transition of Son Preference: Evidence From South Korea," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 627-652, April.
    2. Rossi, Pauline & Rouanet, Léa, 2015. "Gender Preferences in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Fertility Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 326-345.
    3. Kota Ogasawara & Erika Igarashi, 2021. "The Impacts of the Gender Imbalance on the Marriage Market: Evidence from World War II in Japan," Papers 2102.00687, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    4. Timothy Halliday & Sumner La Croix, 2013. "Sons, Daughters, and Labor Supply in Early Twentieth-Century Hawaii," Working Papers 201318, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    5. Chew, Soo Hong & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen & Zhong, Songfa, 2017. "Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents," IZA Discussion Papers 10519, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Baland, Jean-Marie & Cassan, Guilhem & Woitrin, Francois, 2020. "The Stopping Rule and Gender selective mortality: World Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 15128, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Almond, Douglas & Cheng, Yi, 2021. "Perinatal health among 1 million Chinese-Americans," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    8. Neeraj Kaushal & Felix M. Muchomba, 2018. "Missing time with parents: son preference among Asians in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 397-427, April.
    9. William Jergins, 2021. "Culture and son preference: Evidence from immigrants to the United States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 168-198, July.
    10. Braun, Sebastian T. & Stuhler, Jan, 2024. "The economic consequences of being widowed by war: A life-cycle perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    11. Erich BATTISTIN & Sascha O. BECKER & Luca Nunziata, 2022. "More choice for men? Marriage patterns after World War II in Italy," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(3), pages 447-472, September.
    12. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Peter Brummund & Jason Cook & Miriam Larson-Koester, 2020. "Is there still son preference in the United States?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 709-750, July.
    13. Chang, Simon & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2015. "Mating competition and entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 292-309.
    14. S Anukriti & Sonia Bhalotra & Eddy H F Tam, 2022. "On the Quantity and Quality of Girls: Fertility, Parental Investments and Mortality," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(641), pages 1-36.
    15. John Knowles & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2019. "Fertility Shocks And Equilibrium Marriage‐Rate Dynamics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1505-1537, November.
    16. Alix-Garcia, Jennifer & Schechter, Laura & Valencia Caicedo, Felipe & Jessica Zhu, S., 2022. "Country of Women? Repercussions of the Triple Alliance War in Paraguay," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 131-167.
    17. Tien Vu, 2014. "One male offspring preference: evidence from Vietnam using a split-population model," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 689-715, December.
    18. Abel Brodeur & Lamis Kattan, 2022. "World War II, the Baby Boom, and Employment: County-Level Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 437-471.
    19. Giulia La Mattina, 2014. "Civil Conflict, Sex Ratio and Intimate Partner Violence in Rwanda," HiCN Working Papers 175, Households in Conflict Network.
    20. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Mansoor, Nazia & Randazzo, Teresa & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2021. "Is son preference disappearing from Bangladesh?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sex selective abortion; gender equality; investment in children; fertility; household bargaining power;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2023003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Virginie LEBLANC (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iruclbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.