Prenatal Sex Selection and Girls' Well-Being: Evidence from India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hu, Luojia; Schlosser, Analia
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; Tel Aviv University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12259
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1227-1261
• 关键词: rural india; female mortality; child-mortality; gender-differences; Missing women; Abortion; HEALTH; birth; ratio; DISCRIMINATION

摘要

We study the impacts of prenatal sex selection on girls' well-being in India. We show that high sex ratios at birth reflect the practice of prenatal sex selection and apply a triple difference strategy to examine whether changes in health outcomes of girls relative to boys within states and over time are systematically associated with changes in sex-ratios at birth. We find that an increase in prenatal sex selection leads to a reduction in girls' malnutrition, in particular, underweight and wasting. We further explore various underlying channels linking between prenatal sex selection and girls' outcomes.