The Interplay of Sibling Sex Composition, Son Preference, and Child Education in China: Evidence from the One-Child Policy

Futing Chen, Cuntong Wang () and Yihe WangDing
Additional contact information
Futing Chen: University of Chicago
Cuntong Wang: Central University of Finance and Economics
Yihe WangDing: City University of Macau

Population Research and Policy Review, 2024, vol. 43, issue 5, No 1, 31 pages

Abstract: Abstract This study examines the interplay between sibling sex composition, son preference, and child education outcomes in China, leveraging the natural experiment of the country's One-Child Policy. Using China 1990 census, we find that the presence of a brother in the second birth exerts contrasting effects on firstborn girls' education. Son-biased family resource allocation diminishes their educational attainment, while parental decisions to curtail family size after the son's birth lead to increased educational opportunities for firstborn girls. These opposing mechanisms counteract each other, resulting in a near-zero net effect on their education. In contrast, sibling sex composition has no discernible impact on firstborn boys' education in either way. Our findings underscore the intricate interplay of sibling composition, policy and culture in shaping educational outcomes in China.

Keywords: Sibling sex composition; Son preference; One-Child Policy; Education; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-024-09910-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
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:kap:poprpr:v:43:y:2024:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-024-09910-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/11113/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11113-024-09910-6

Access Statistics for this article

Population Research and Policy Review is currently edited by D.A. Swanson

More articles in Population Research and Policy Review from Springer, Southern Demographic Association (SDA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().