Does sex-ratio indicate the extent of male preference?: A quest for better indicator

Singh, Indervir and Singh, Sarbjit (2007): Does sex-ratio indicate the extent of male preference?: A quest for better indicator.

Abstract

This paper shows that the use of sex-ratio as an indicator of preference for male is not an appropriate selection, as sex-ratio also depends up on fertility rate in any society. The findings points out that by comparing sex ratios across societies, one may find trivial conclusion with regard to people having male preferences if the societies differ in their fertility rates. Similar mistake can also happen while comparing sex-ratios across different points of time if the fertility rate is changing over the time period. Consequently, paper proposes an alternative method to know the extent of male preference.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Male preference, Sex-ratio, Fertility rate
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics

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