Child Gender and Parental Inputs: No More Son Preference in Korea?

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Jawon Choi ◽  
Jisoo Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Private Education ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Potential Bias ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Endogenous Fertility ◽  
Child Gender ◽  
Fertility Decisions

Sex ratio at birth remains highly skewed in Asian countries due to son preference. In South Korea, however, it has declined to the natural ratio. In this paper, we investigate whether son preference has disappeared in Korea by analyzing parents' time and monetary inputs by the sex of their child. We exploit randomness of the first child's sex to overcome potential bias from endogenous fertility decisions. Our findings show that mothers are more likely to work after having a girl, girls spend twice as much time as boys in housework activities, and parents spend more on private education for boys.

scholarly journals Can Hepatitis B Mothers Account for the Number of Missing Women? Evidence from Three Million Newborns in Taiwan

2008 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 2259-2273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Jen Lin ◽  
Ming-Ching Luoh
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis B Virus ◽  
Hepatitis B ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Birth Order ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Male Birth ◽  
B Virus ◽  
Missing Women

The “missing women” phenomenon in many Asian countries has previously been regarded as the result of son preference. However, some studies have argued half of the missing women can be explained by infection with Hepatitis B virus (HBV). We demonstrate that the probability of having a male birth is only slightly higher for HBV mothers than for mothers without HBV. The sex ratio at birth rises for the higher birth order and that in families where the first two children are female. Our findings suggest that HBV status has little impact on the missing women phenomenon. (JEL I12, J16)

Son preference and the sex ratio at birth in China: A provincial level analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 44 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dudley L. Poston ◽  
Baochang Gu ◽  
Peihang Peggy Liu ◽  
Terra McDaniel
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
Level Analysis

Sex ratio at birth and son preference

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Li ◽  
Marcus W. Feldman ◽  
Shripad Tuljapurkar
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth

THE HIGH SEX RATIO IN CHINA: WHAT DO THE CHINESE THINK?

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. ZHOU ◽  
X. L. WANG ◽  
W. J. ZHENG ◽  
X. D. ZHOU ◽  
L. LI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Negative Impacts

SummaryHigh sex ratios are well documented in many Asian countries, including China. This study was conducted in three Chinese provinces to explore awareness of the high sex ratios and its effects. Questionnaires were completed by 7435 respondents; 46% were urban and 53% were female. Sixty-four per cent were aware of the high sex ratio, and the majority were able to identify a range of consequences both for society and for unmarried men. These high levels of awareness of the negative impacts of high sex ratios should ultimately help to reduce the sex ratio at birth.

scholarly journals Is sex ratio at birth an appropriate measure of prenatal sex selection? Findings of a theoretical model and its application to India

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. e000675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Dubuc ◽  
Devinderjit Singh Sivia
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Fertility Reduction ◽  
Squeeze Effect ◽  
India And China ◽  
Selection Practices

Son preference and prenatal sex selection against females have resulted in significant sex ratio at birth (SRB) imbalances well documented in several Asian countries, including India and China. The SRB bias is generally used as indicator for the extent and trends of prenatal sex selection against females. Decreasing fertility levels are expected to increase sex selection and thus SRB bias, since desiring fewer children increases the risk for families to remain sonless (fertility squeeze effect). We developed and employ mathematical models linking family size, birth order and childbearing strategies with population SRB bias. We show that SRB bias can increase despite fewer sex selection interventions occurring, inconsistent with the expectation of the fertility squeeze effect. We show that a disproportionality effect of fertility reduction amplifies SRB bias, in addition to the fertility squeeze effect, making SRB bias an inaccurate indicator for changes in sex selection practices within a population. We propose to use sex selection propensity (proportion of couples intervening) to measure behavioural change and evaluate policies targeting sex selection practices. We apply our findings to India, showing for instance that sex selection propensity in Punjab and Delhi was lower than in Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh, despite significantly higher SRB bias in the former. While we observe a continuous overall increase in the SRB over the 2005–2010 period in India, our results indicate that prenatal sex selection propensity started declining during that period.

scholarly journals CHANGES IN SEX RATIO AT BIRTH IN CHINA: A DECOMPOSITION BY BIRTH ORDER

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 826-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quanbao Jiang ◽  
Qun Yu ◽  
Shucai Yang ◽  
Jesús J. Sánchez-Barricarte
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Birth Order ◽  
Rural Population ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Total Effect ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Compositional Change ◽  
Slight Rise

SummaryThe long-term high sex ratio at birth (SRB) is a serious issue in China. In this study, changes in SRB were decomposed into variations in SRB by birth order and compositional changes in female births by birth order. With SRB data from China’s surveys and censuses, and SRB data from South Korea’s vital registration and censuses from 1980–2015, the trend and decomposition results in SRB were compared between China and South Korea, and the decomposition results for urban and rural SRBs, and for provinces, are presented. In both China and South Korea the rise in the SRB was driven by a rise in the SRB at all birth orders, which was only partly counteracted by the change in the distribution of births by order. The overall rise in the SRB ended when there was a decline in the SRB at second birth or above in South Korea. In China the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders increased more for the rural population than for the urban population before 2000, resulting in a higher total SRB for rural than urban population. After 2000, the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders lowered the total SRB for the rural population, whereas the effect of compositional change increased the total SRB, leading to a very slight rise in the total SRB for the rural population. At the province level, there was no spatial autocorrelation for the changes in total SRB by province, the total effect of variations in SRB of all birth orders or the effect of compositional change. The effect of variations in SRB by birth order accounted for the majority of changes in total SRB in most provinces.

scholarly journals Financial Incentives and the Fertility-Sex Ratio Trade-Off

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Anukriti
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Sex Ratio At Birth ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Limited Role ◽  
Lower Fertility ◽  
Do So

Can financial incentives resolve the fertility-sex ratio trade-off faced by countries with persistent son preference and easy access to sex-selection technology? An Indian program, Devi Rupak, that seeks to lower fertility and the sex ratio is unable to do so. Although fertility decreases, the sex ratio at birth worsens as high son preference families are unwilling to forgo a son despite substantially higher benefits for a daughter. Thus, financial incentives may only play a limited role in the resolution of the fertility-sex ratio conflict. (JEL I38, J13, J16, J18, O15)

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