Son Preference and Human Capital

Wang, Qingfeng (2018): Son Preference and Human Capital.

Abstract

We have developed a theoretical link between the existence of a son preference and the quantity and quality of children. In our model, decisions about the quantity and quality of children are interdependent and are influenced by a son preference. A son preference substantially widens the gap between the quality of female and male children, and increases the possibility of having more children to realize this preference. An increase in the level of son preference lowers the average level of education, especially for female children. For households with a son preference, having a female birth at each birth order significantly increased the probability of having more children, with a magnitude which is much larger than that suggested in Dahl and Moretti (2008). More interestingly, once such households have a son, there is a significant reduction in that household’s likelihood of having more children. Furthermore, our findings establish the causal effect of a son preference on the quantity and quality of children within a family as a son preference is found to greatly reduce households’ sensitivity to the change in the shadow price of quantity as well as quality.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Son Preference; the Quantity and the Quality of Children
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I20 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General > J01 - Labor Economics: General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J13 - Fertility ; Family Planning ; Child Care ; Children ; Youth; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity

References

Ahmad, A., and J. Morduch. 1993 “Identifying Sex Bias in the Allocation of Household Resources”. Harvard Institute for Economic Research DP 1636. Almond, D., and L. Edlund. 2008. “Son biased sex ratios in the U.S. 2000 census.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(15): 5681-5682. Almond, D., L. Edlund, and K. Milligan. 2013. “Son preference and the Persistence of Culture: Evidence from South and East Asian Immigrants to Canada.” Population and Development Review 39(1): 75-95. Andersson, G., K. Hank, and A. Vikat. 2007. “Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: lessons from Sweden and Finland.” Demographic Research 17(6): 135-156. Barcellos, S. H., Carvalho, L. S., and A. Lleras-Muney. 2014. “Child gender and parental investments in India: Are boys and girls treated differently?” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 6(1): 157-189. Barro, R. 1991. “Economic Growth in a Cross-Section of Countries.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 106(2): 407-443. Barro, R., and J. Lee. 1994. “Source of Economic Growth.” Carnegie-Rochester Series on Public Policy 40: 1-46. Barro, R., and X. Sala-i-Martin. 1995. Economic Growth. New York: McGraw-Hill. Becker, Gary S. 1960. An Economic Analysis of Fertility. Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Becker, G. S. and H. G. Lewis. 1973. “On the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children.” Journal of Political Economy 81(2): S279-S288. Becker, G. S. and N. Tomes. 1976. “Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children.” Journal of Political Economy 84(4): S143-S162. Black, S., P. Devereux & K. Salvanes (2005) “The More The Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children’s Education.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 120(2): 669-700. Bloom, D., and J. Williamson. 1998. “Demographic Transition and Economic Miracles in Emerging Asia.” World Bank Economic Review 12(3): 419-455. Burgess, R., and J. Zhuang. 2001. “Modernisation and Son Preference,” London School of Economics Working Paper. Chen, L., E. Huq., and S. D’Souza. 1981. “Sex bias in the family allocation of food and health care in rural Bangladesh.” Population and Development Review 7(1): 55-70. Chen, Y., H. Li., and L. Meng. 2013. “Prenatal sex selection and missing girls in China: evidence from the diffusion of diagnostic ultrasound.” Journal of Human Resource 48(1):36-70. Dahl, G. B., and E. Moretti. 2008. “The Demand for Sons.” Review of Economic Studies 75(4):1085–120. Das Gupta, M. 1987. “Selective Discrimination against Female Children in Rural Punjab, India,” Population and Development Review 13(1): 77–100. Ding, Y. 2012. “The Problems with Access to Compulsory Education in China and the Effects of the Policy of Direct Subsidies to Students.” Chinese Education & Society 45(1):13-21. Dollar, D., and R. Gatti. 1999. “Gender Inequality, Income, and Growth: Are Good Times Good for Women?” Policy Research Report, Engendering Development, Working Paper No. 1. Washington, D.C. Ebenstein, A. 2010. “The missing girls of China and the unintended consequences of the one child policy.” Journal of Human Resource 45(1):87-115. Ebenstein A., and S. Leung. 2010. “Son preference and access to social insurance: evidence from China’s rural pension program.” Population and Development Review 36(1): 47-70. Forbes, K.J. 2000. “A Reassessment of the relationship between Inequality and Growth.” American Economic Review 90(4): 869-887. Galor, O., and D. N. Weil. 1996. “The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth.” American Economic Review 86(2): 374-387. Goodkind, Daniel. 1999. “Do parents prefer sons in North Korea?” Studies in Family Planning 30(3): 212-218. _______________ 2015. “The claim that China's fertility restrictions contributed to the use of prenatal sex selection: A skeptical reappraisal.” Population Studies, 69(3), 269-273. Hu, A., and F. Tian. 2018. “Still under the ancestors' shadow? Ancestor worship and family formation in contemporary China.” Demographic Research 38(1): 1-26. Jimmerson, J. 1990. “Female infanticide in China: An examination of cultural and legal norms.” Pacific Basin Law Journal 8(1), 47-79. Knowles, S., P.K. Lorgelly, and P.D. Owen. 2002. “Are Educational Gender Gaps a Brake on Economic Development? Some Cross-Country Empirical Evidence.” Oxford Economic Papers 54(1):118-149. Klasen, S. 2002. “Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross‐Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development.” The World Bank Economic Review 16(3): 345-373. Kugler, A.D., and S. Kumar. 2017. “Preference for boys, family size, and educational attainment in India.” Demography 54(3): 835-859. Lagerlöf, N. 1999. “Gender Inequality, Fertility, and Growth.” University of Sydney, Department of Economics, Australia. Li, J. 1995. “China's Family Planning Program: How, and How Well Has it Worked? A Case Study of Hebei Province, 1979-88.” Population and Development Review 21:563-85. Lorgelly, P. K., and P. D. Owen. 1999. “The Effect of Female and Male Schooling on Economic Growth in the Barro-Lee Model.” Empirical Economics 24(3): 537-557. Park, Chai Bin., and Nam-Hoon Cho. 1995. “Consequences of son preference in a low-fertility society: Imbalance of the sex ratio at birth in Korea.” Population and Development Review 21(1):59-84. Park, A., and P. Rukumnuaykit. 2004. “Eat Drink Man Woman: Testing for Gender Bias in China Using Individual Nutrient Intake Data.” University of Michigan Working Paper. Qian, N. 2008. “Missing women and the price of tea in China: the effect of income on sex imbalance.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(3):1251-1285. Qian, N. (2009). Quantity-quality and the one child policy: The only-child disadvantage in school enrollment in rural China. NBER Working Paper 14973. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Rosenzweig, M. R., and T. P. Schultz. 1982. “Market Opportunities, Genetic Endowments, and Intrafamily Resource Distribution: Child Survival in Rural India.” American Economic Review 72(4): 803-815. Rosenzweig M. R., and K. I. Wolpin. 1980. “Testing the quantity-quality fertility model: The use of twins as a natural experiment.” Econometrica 48(1): 227–240. Schwartz, B. I. 1985. The world of thought in ancient China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Sen, A. 1990. More than 100 Million Women are Missing. New York Review of Books. Shi, L. 2009. “Little quilted vests to warm parents’ hearts: Redefining the gendered practice of filial piety in rural north-eastern China.” China Quarterly 198: 348-363. Taylor, A. 1998. “On the cost of Inward-Looking Development.” Journal of Economic History 58(1): 1-28. Thomas, D. 1994. “Like Father, Like Son; Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height.” Journal of Human Resources 29(4): 950-988. Wang, Q. 2019. “Missing Women, Gender Imbalance and Sex Ratio at Birth: Why the One-Child Policy Matters.” Working Paper. Wasserstrom, J. 1984. “Resistance to the One-Child Family.” Modern China 10:345-74. Willis, R. J. 1973. “A New Approach to the Economic Theory of Fertility Behavior.” Journal of Political Economy 81(2): S14-S64. Young, J. 2013. In China's Hukou System: Markets, Migrants and Institutional Change (pp. 27-64). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. Zhang, C. 2019. “Family support or social support? The role of clan culture.” Journal of Population Economics 32(2): 529-549. Zhang, J. S. 2017. “The Evolution of China's One-Child Policy and Its Effects on Family Outcomes.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 31(1): 141-160.