Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children
Maternal desire for children of a particular sex has important implications for the well-being of household members. A simple theoretical model predicts that when a child is born of their mother's preferred sex, parents will allocate more resources towards that child, resulting in healthier children...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146466 |
| _version_ | 1855528257792770048 |
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| author | Palloni, Giordano |
| author_browse | Palloni, Giordano |
| author_facet | Palloni, Giordano |
| author_sort | Palloni, Giordano |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Maternal desire for children of a particular sex has important implications for the well-being of household members. A simple theoretical model predicts that when a child is born of their mother's preferred sex, parents will allocate more resources towards that child, resulting in healthier children. I test this prediction empirically using a longitudinal data set from Indonesia. Each mother's preferred sex, defined by whether she prefers for future children to be male or female, is matched to the observed sex of her subsequent child. Because this measure of maternal sex preference is established before conception, identification requires only that the sex at birth of the subsequent child is random. I find that children born of their mother's preferred sex are heavier, have a higher body mass index, and experience fewer illnesses in early childhood. I show that reductions in subsequent fertility can explain roughly half of the total effect. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace146466 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1464662025-01-24T08:54:26Z Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children Palloni, Giordano gender fertility health children women Maternal desire for children of a particular sex has important implications for the well-being of household members. A simple theoretical model predicts that when a child is born of their mother's preferred sex, parents will allocate more resources towards that child, resulting in healthier children. I test this prediction empirically using a longitudinal data set from Indonesia. Each mother's preferred sex, defined by whether she prefers for future children to be male or female, is matched to the observed sex of her subsequent child. Because this measure of maternal sex preference is established before conception, identification requires only that the sex at birth of the subsequent child is random. I find that children born of their mother's preferred sex are heavier, have a higher body mass index, and experience fewer illnesses in early childhood. I show that reductions in subsequent fertility can explain roughly half of the total effect. 2017-05 2024-06-21T09:07:10Z 2024-06-21T09:07:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146466 en Open Access Elsevier Palloni, Giordano. 2017. Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children. Journal of Development Economics 126(May 2017): 19 - 32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.11.005 |
| spellingShingle | gender fertility health children women Palloni, Giordano Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title | Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title_full | Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title_fullStr | Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title_short | Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| title_sort | childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children |
| topic | gender fertility health children women |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146466 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pallonigiordano childhoodhealthandthewantednessofmaleandfemalechildren |