Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Development, Modernization, and Childbearing

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dc.creator Filmer, Deon
dc.creator Friedman, Jed
dc.creator Schady, Norbert
dc.date 2012-03-30T07:12:38Z
dc.date 2012-03-30T07:12:38Z
dc.date 2009-11-30
dc.date.accessioned 2023-02-18T19:41:36Z
dc.date.available 2023-02-18T19:41:36Z
dc.identifier World Bank Economic Review
dc.identifier 1564-698X
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4507
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/249992
dc.description Does the sex composition of existing children in a family affect fertility behavior? An unusually large data set, covering 64 countries and some 5 million births, is used to show that fertility behavior responds to the presence—or absence—of sons in many regions of the developing world. The response to the absence of sons is particularly large in Central Asia and South Asia. Modernization does not appear to reduce this differential response. For example, in South Asia the fertility response to the absence of sons is larger for women with more education and has been increasing over time. The explanation appears to be that a latent demand for sons is more likely to manifest itself when fertility levels are low. As a result of this differential fertility behavior, girls tend to grow up with significantly more siblings than do boys, with potential implications for their well-being when quantity–quality tradeoffs result in fewer material and emotional resources allocated to children in larger families.
dc.publisher World Bank
dc.rights CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
dc.rights World Bank
dc.subject childbearing
dc.subject discrimination
dc.subject excess mortality
dc.subject family preference
dc.subject fertility
dc.subject fertility behavior
dc.subject fertility levels
dc.subject human capital
dc.subject immunization
dc.subject inheritance
dc.subject larger families
dc.subject modernization
dc.subject nutrition
dc.subject old age
dc.subject preference for sons
dc.subject reproductive health
dc.subject rural communities
dc.subject sex
dc.subject son preference
dc.subject urbanization
dc.title Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
dc.type Journal Article
dc.type Journal Article
dc.coverage Africa
dc.coverage India


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