A Multinomial Model of Fertility Choice and Offspring Sex Ratios in India

Rubiana Chamarbagwala and Martin Ranger

Journal of Development Studies, 2010, vol. 46, issue 3, 417-438

Abstract: We use the fertility histories of over 70,000 Indian women from the Third National Family and Health Survey to investigate the relationship between family size and offspring sex ratios in India. We find that families with three or more children exhibit gender equality in offspring sex ratios. In families with one or two children, however, there are less than 800 daughters for every 1000 sons. Thus, we find an 'intensification' effect - namely, a positive correlation between family size and female-male offspring sex ratios. Our results indicate that greater wealth and paternal education may increase parents' access to and affordability of sex-selection technologies, thereby allowing them to choose both the sex of their children as well as a smaller family size.

Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380903012755 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: A Multinomial Model of Fertility Choice and Offspring Sex-Ratios in India (2007)
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:taf:jdevst:v:46:y:2010:i:3:p:417-438

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FJDS20

DOI: 10.1080/00220380903012755

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Studies is currently edited by Howard White, Oliver Morrissey and Ken Shadlen

More articles in Journal of Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().