Son preference and crime in India

Rashmi Barua, Prarthna Agarwal Goel and Renuka Sane
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Prarthna Agarwal Goel: GGS Indraprastha University

Review of Economics of the Household, 2023, vol. 21, issue 3, No 13, 1127-1151

Abstract: Abstract Using an Instrumental Variable strategy, we find a positive causal relation between son preference, proxied by child sex ratio, and crime in India; a country with strong patriarchal norms. To explore the channels, we study the role of social norms in explaining the relation between sex ratio and crime. The shortage of females within a district leads to the relaxation of rigid marriage norms related to arranging marriages within a known network. Consistent with this, we find that in districts with high pre-marital sex ratio, marriages are being arranged in far away places leading to a reduction in the social stigma cost of crime.

Keywords: Sex ratio; Crime; Instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 J16 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-023-09647-9

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