Did the Great Recession affect sex ratios at birth for groups with a son preference?

Soohyung Lee and Chiara Orsini

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which the Great Recession affected gender composition at birth. We focus on ethnic minorities in the US known for a son preference—Chinese, Indians, and Koreans. Using the DID method, we find that in response to the Great Recession, the fraction of newborn boys increased among Chinese Americans. Our results suggest that a cultural norm, namely son preference, may be directly affected by economic conditions.

Keywords: Son preference; Great Recession; Missing Girls; Sex ratios; Fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-05-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Economics Letters, 1, May, 2017, 154, pp. 48-50. ISSN: 0165-1765

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/69532/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Did the Great Recession affect sex ratios at birth for groups with a son preference? (2017)
Working Paper: Did the Great Recession Affect Sex Ratios at Birth for Groups with a Son Preference? (2017)
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:ehl:lserod:69532

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager (lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk).