Sons as widowhood insurance: Evidence from Senegal

Sylvie Lambert and Pauline Rossi

Journal of Development Economics, 2016, vol. 120, issue C, 113-127

Abstract: Exploiting original data from a Senegalese household survey, we provide evidence that fertility choices are partly driven by women's needs for widowhood insurance. We use a duration model of birth intervals to show that women most at risk in case of widowhood intensify their fertility, shortening birth spacing, until they get a son. Insurance through sons might entail substantial health costs since short birth spacing raises maternal and infant mortality rates.

Keywords: Intra-household insurance; Gender; Fertility; Health; Senegal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387816000110
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Sons as widowhood insurance: Evidence from Senegal (2016)
Working Paper: Sons as widowhood insurance: Evidence from Senegal (2016)
Working Paper: Sons as Widowhood Insurance: Evidence from Senegal (2015)
Working Paper: Sons as Widowhood Insurance: Evidence from Senegal (2015)
Working Paper: Sons as Widowhood Insurance: Evidence from Senegal (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:120:y:2016:i:c:p:113-127

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.01.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig

More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().