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Son Preference and Health Disparities in Developing Countries

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  • Le, Kien
  • Nguyen, My

Abstract

Recorded history demonstrates the preference for sons in every aspect of life. Today, despite being considered a powerful manifestation of gender inequality and discrimination against women, the preference for sons over daughters is still prevalent worldwide. In this study, we investigate the extent to which son preference influences health disparities between sons and daughters in 66 developing countries. We find that the differences in height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores between daughters and their peers are 0.135 and 0.098 standard deviation lower compared to the analogous differences between sons and their peers due to son preference. Our heterogeneity analysis further shows that son preference disproportionately affects children of disadvantaged backgrounds such as those living in rural areas, born to lower-educated mothers, and coming from poor families.

Suggested Citation

  • Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2022. "Son Preference and Health Disparities in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 112348, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:112348
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kien Le & My Nguyen, 2022. "War and Intimate Partner Violence in Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    2. My Nguyen & Kien Le, 2023. "The impacts of women's land ownership: Evidence from Vietnam," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 158-177, February.
    3. Ashok, Sumeet & Mughal, Mazhar & Javed, Rashid, 2024. "Mother’s age at marriage and gender-differential in child schooling: Evidence from Pakistan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    4. Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2022. "Desert locust swarms and child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    5. My Nguyen & Kien Le, 2022. "Can Legislation Reduce Domestic Violence in Developing Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    6. My Nguyen, 2024. "The Health Costs of Being Born Unwanted," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 62(2), pages 115-138, June.
    7. Kien Le, 2022. "Pre-Recorded Lectures, Live Online Lectures, and Student Academic Achievement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-10, March.
    8. Chen, Jiwei & Zhang, Zongli, 2024. "Family poverty and adolescents’ cognitive and noncognitive outcomes: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Son preference; health disparities; developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

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