Are There Missing Girls in the United States? Evidence from Birth Data

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Abrevaya, Jason
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.1.2.1
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 1-34
• 关键词: sex-ratio; malefemale ratio; son preference; women; GENDER; born; fertility; selection; INDIA

摘要

We offer evidence of gender selection within the United States. Analysis of comprehensive birth data shows unusually high boy-birth percentages after 1980 among later children (most notably third and fourth children) born to Chinese and Asian Indian mothers. Based upon linked data from California, Asian Indian mothers are found to be significantly more likely to have a terminated pregnancy and to give birth to a boy when they have previously only given birth to girls. The observed boy-birth percentages are consistent with over 2,000 missing Chinese and Indian girls in the United States between 1991 and 2004. (JEL J11, J16)