Economic development, female wages and missing female births in Spain, 1900–1930

Rebeca Echavarri () and Francisco Beltrán Tapia
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Rebeca Echavarri: Universidad Publica de Navarra

Cliometrica, 2024, vol. 18, issue 2, No 2, 335-361

Abstract: Abstract Focusing on Spain between 1900 and 1930, a period characterised by significant structural transformations and rapid economic growth, this article shows that the sex ratio at birth (SRB) was abnormally high, at least until the 1920s. Apart from questioning whether female under-registration and different mortality environments alone can explain the results reported here, our analysis of regional information indicates that SRBs were higher in provinces where the economic structure was dominated by agriculture and manufacturing (relative to the service sector). In addition, exploiting the annual variation in low-skilled wages at the province level makes it possible to distinguish between the roles played by under-registration and outright neglect: while higher wages could increase the opportunity cost of registering a female birth (and therefore result in higher SRBs), they could also reduce the pressure to neglect female babies (and therefore result in lower SRBs). We find evidence of both effects (income and opportunity cost) of wages on SRBs between 1914 and 1920 in Spain, a period in which WWI arguably subjected the Spanish economy to an exogenous demand shock. These two effects, however, imply very different discriminatory practices. In fact, on average, the income effect was larger than the effect arising from the opportunity cost, which supports the idea that female neglect around birth was more prevalent than previously assumed during the early twentieth century in Spain. As expected, the relationship between wages and the SRB vanished during the 1920s, along with the unbalanced SRB. These results stress that gender discrimination around birth does not necessarily disappear with economic growth unless this process is accompanied by expanded labour opportunities for women.

Keywords: Sex ratio at birth; Gender discrimination; Industrialisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I15 J13 J16 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Journal Article: Economic development, female wages and missing female births in Spain, 1900–1930 (2024)
Working Paper: Economic development, female wages and missing female births in Spain, 1900-1930 (2022)
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DOI: 10.1007/s11698-023-00267-y

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