Development, Modernization, and Childbearing

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Filmer, Deon, Friedman, Jed, Schady, Norbert
Format: Journal Article
Published: World Bank 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4507
id okr-10986-4507
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-45072021-04-23T14:02:18Z Development, Modernization, and Childbearing Filmer, Deon Friedman, Jed Schady, Norbert childbearing discrimination excess mortality family preference fertility fertility behavior fertility levels human capital immunization inheritance larger families modernization nutrition old age preference for sons reproductive health rural communities sex son preference urbanization 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. 2012-03-30T07:12:38Z 2012-03-30T07:12:38Z 2009-11-30 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4507 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank Journal Article Africa India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
topic childbearing
discrimination
excess mortality
family preference
fertility
fertility behavior
fertility levels
human capital
immunization
inheritance
larger families
modernization
nutrition
old age
preference for sons
reproductive health
rural communities
sex
son preference
urbanization
spellingShingle childbearing
discrimination
excess mortality
family preference
fertility
fertility behavior
fertility levels
human capital
immunization
inheritance
larger families
modernization
nutrition
old age
preference for sons
reproductive health
rural communities
sex
son preference
urbanization
Filmer, Deon
Friedman, Jed
Schady, Norbert
Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
geographic_facet Africa
India
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.
format Journal Article
author Filmer, Deon
Friedman, Jed
Schady, Norbert
author_facet Filmer, Deon
Friedman, Jed
Schady, Norbert
author_sort Filmer, Deon
title Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
title_short Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
title_full Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
title_fullStr Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
title_full_unstemmed Development, Modernization, and Childbearing
title_sort development, modernization, and childbearing
publisher World Bank
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4507
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