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Speeding up for a son? Fertility transitions among Migrants to Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Ferrer

    (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo)

  • Alicia Adsera

    (Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University)

Abstract

We use the 2001 and 2006 Canadian Census to study how the sex-ratios at second birth, conditional on both the spacing between the first two children and the gender of the first, vary across place of birth or religious affiliation. We find that South Asian women give birth to a higher proportion of boys after a first-born girl compared to both natives and other immigrant groups with girls and also to South Asians with a first-born boy. Across religious groups, Sikhs present a similar behavior. These abnormal sex-ratios are particularly skewed when the time span between the first two births is short. This seems to indicate sex-selective abortion that happens more frequently after conceptions that occur fairly close to the birth of a first girl. Sex ratios return (close) to normal for these groups if live-births are spaced three years or longer.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Ferrer & Alicia Adsera, 2016. "Speeding up for a son? Fertility transitions among Migrants to Canada," Working Papers 1602, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:wat:wpaper:1602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • 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

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