Unintended Consequences of Family Planning Policies on the Breastfeeding Gap between Sons and Daughters

Minhee Chae, Yong Cai, Jun Hyung Kim and William Lavely ()
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Yong Cai: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
William Lavely: University of Washington

No 16190, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: We examine the effect of a Chinese family planning policy (FPP) known as "Later, Longer, and Fewer" on the gender gap in breastfeeding. We find that FPP increased the daughter-son breastfeeding gap in favor of sons in rural areas. Mean intensity of the FPP predicts the gender gap to be 35% greater than the gap without FPP. The effects are explained by the skewed gender composition of last-born children produced by sex-selective stopping behavior. The findings indicate a way in which FPP, in the context of son preference, widens gender gap in child development.

Keywords: breastfeeding; “Later-Longer-and-Fewer” campaign; son preference; family planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 J13 J16 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2023-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-dem and nep-gen
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16190

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