Son Preferences and Education Inequalities in India

Heather Congdon Fors and Annika Lindskog

No 781, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: We investigate the impact of son preferences in India on gender inequalities in education. We distinguish the impact of preferential treatment of boys from the impact of gender-biased fertility strategies (gender-specific fertility stopping rules and sex-selective abortions). Results show strong impacts of gender-biased fertility strategies on education differences between girls and boys. Preferential treatment of boys has a more limited impact on gender differences. Further, results suggest that gender-biased fertility strategies create gender inequalities in education both because girls and boys end up in systematically different families and because of gender-inequalities in pecuniary investment within families. The extra advantage of the eldest son within the family is small.

Keywords: Son preferences; Gender; Sex-selection; Fertility-stopping rules; Human Capital; Education; Birth order (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I20 J16 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2019-10, Revised 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen
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