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Prenatal sex selection and girls' well-being? evidence from India

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  • Luojia Hu
  • Analía Schlosser

Abstract

The paper studies the impact of prenatal sex selection on the well-being of girls by analyzing changes in children's nutritional status and mortality during the years since the diffusion of sex-selective abortion in India. We use the ratio of male to female births in the year and state in which a child was born as a proxy for parental access to prenatal sex-selection. Using repeated cross-sections from a rich survey dataset, we show that high sex ratios at birth reflect the practice of sex-selective abortion. We then exploit the large regional and time variations in the incidence of sex-selective abortion to analyze whether changes in girls' outcomes relative to boys within states and over time are associated with changes in sex-ratios at birth. We find that an increase in the practice of sex-selective abortion appears to be associated with a reduction in the incidence of malnutrition among girls. The negative association is stronger for girls born in rural households and at higher birth parities. We find no evidence that sex-selective abortion leads to a selection of girls into families of higher SES, however we do find some evidence of a larger reduction in family size for girls relative to boys. We also find some suggestive evidence of better treatment of girls as reflected in breast feeding duration. On the other hand, sex-selective abortion does not appear to be associated with a reduction in excess female child mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Luojia Hu & Analía Schlosser, 2010. "Prenatal sex selection and girls' well-being? evidence from India," Working Paper Series WP-2010-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2010-11
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    3. Prashant Bharadwaj & Leah K. Lakdawala, 2013. "Discrimination Begins in the Womb: Evidence of Sex-Selective Prenatal Investments," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 71-113.
    4. Hwang, Jisoo & Lee, Chulhee & Lee, Esther, 2019. "Gender norms and housework time allocation among dual-earner couples," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 102-116.
    5. Lídia Farré, 2013. "The Role of Men in the Economic and Social Development of Women: Implications for Gender Equality," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 22-51, February.
    6. Milazzo, Annamaria, 2018. "Why are adult women missing? Son preference and maternal survival in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 467-484.
    7. Friedman-Sokuler, Naomi & Justman, Moshe, 2020. "Gender, culture and STEM: Counter-intuitive patterns in Arab society," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Alexander Stimpfle & David Stadelmann, 2016. "Does Central Europe Import the Missing Women Phenomenon?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2016-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    9. Reshmaan Hussam, 2014. "Marry Rich, Poor Girl: Investigating the Effects of Sex Selection on Intrahousehold Outcomes in India," Harvard Business School Working Papers 18-029, Harvard Business School.
    10. González, Libertad, 2018. "Sex selection and health at birth among Indian immigrants," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 64-75.
    11. Adriana D. Kugler & Santosh Kumar, 2017. "Preference for Boys, Family Size, and Educational Attainment in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 835-859, June.
    12. Hazan, Moshe & Zoabi, Hosny, 2009. "Sons or Daughters? Endogenous Sex Preferences and the Reversal of the Gender Educational Gap," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275728, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.
    13. 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).
    14. Tafesse, W.;, 2018. "The effect of mandatory iodine fortification on cognitive test scores in rural India," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 18/10, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Abortion; Prenatal care;

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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