Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence
China has a large deficit of females, and public policies have sought to reduce the son preference that is widely believed to cause this. Recently a study has suggested that up to 75 percent of this deficit is attributable to hepatitis B infection...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/8980990/hepatitis-b-infection-or-son-preference-explain-bulk-gender-imbalance-china-review-evidence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6392 |
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okr-10986-63922021-04-23T14:02:31Z Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence Das Gupta, Monica BABIES BIRTH ORDER BIRTH ORDERS BIRTHS CHANCES OF SURVIVAL CHILD MORTALITY CULTURAL FACTORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIALS IN HEALTH DIFFERENTIALS IN MORTALITY DISCRIMINATION DISEASE DISEASES DYING EARLY CHILDHOOD FAMILIES FAMILY COMPOSITION FATHER FATHERS FEMALE FEMALE CHILDREN FEMALE MORTALITY FEMALES FERTILITY FETUSES FIRST CHILD GENDER GENDER BIAS GENDER DIFFERENTIALS GENDER EQUITY HEALTH SURVEYS HEPATITIS HEPATITIS B VIRUS HUMAN BIOLOGY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUSBAND HUSBANDS IDEAS ABOUT GENDER ROLES IMMIGRANTS IMMUNIZATION IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS INFANT INFANTICIDE INFECTION INFECTION RATES INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING PERSPECTIVES KIDNEYS LEGISLATION LIFE EVENTS MARRIED WOMEN MEDICAL SCIENCES MEDICINE MORTALITY MORTALITY DIFFERENTIALS MOTHER MOTHERS NEWBORNS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITIONAL STATUS PATIENTS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT POPULATION DIVISION POPULATION STUDIES PREFERENCE FOR SONS PREGNANT WOMEN PREVALENCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRESS PUBLIC LIFE PUBLIC SERVICES RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS SEX SEX DIFFERENCES SEX RATIO SEX RATIOS SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS SEXES SOCIAL AFFAIRS SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS SON PREFERENCE SOUTH ASIAN SPONTANEOUS ABORTIONS STATE POLICIES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TROPICAL DISEASES URBANIZATION VACCINATION CAMPAIGN VACCINATION CAMPAIGNS VITAL STATISTICS WIFE WIVES WOMAN WORLD POPULATION China has a large deficit of females, and public policies have sought to reduce the son preference that is widely believed to cause this. Recently a study has suggested that up to 75 percent of this deficit is attributable to hepatitis B infection, indicating that immunization programs should form the first plank of policy interventions. However, a large medical dataset from Taiwan (China) shows that hepatitis B infection raises women's probability of having a son by only 0.25 percent. And demographic data from China show that the only group of women who have elevated probabilities of bearing a son are those who have already borne daughters. This pattern makes it difficult to see how any biological factor can explain a large part of the imbalance in China's sex ratios at birth -- unless it can be shown that it somehow selectively affects those who have borne girls, or causes them to first bear girls and then boys. The Taiwanese data suggest that this is not the case with hepatitis B, since its impact is unaffected by the sex composition of previous births. The data support the cultural, rather than the biological, explanation for the "missing women." 2012-05-24T21:17:03Z 2012-05-24T21:17:03Z 2008-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/8980990/hepatitis-b-infection-or-son-preference-explain-bulk-gender-imbalance-china-review-evidence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6392 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4502 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research East Asia and Pacific China |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
BABIES BIRTH ORDER BIRTH ORDERS BIRTHS CHANCES OF SURVIVAL CHILD MORTALITY CULTURAL FACTORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIALS IN HEALTH DIFFERENTIALS IN MORTALITY DISCRIMINATION DISEASE DISEASES DYING EARLY CHILDHOOD FAMILIES FAMILY COMPOSITION FATHER FATHERS FEMALE FEMALE CHILDREN FEMALE MORTALITY FEMALES FERTILITY FETUSES FIRST CHILD GENDER GENDER BIAS GENDER DIFFERENTIALS GENDER EQUITY HEALTH SURVEYS HEPATITIS HEPATITIS B VIRUS HUMAN BIOLOGY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUSBAND HUSBANDS IDEAS ABOUT GENDER ROLES IMMIGRANTS IMMUNIZATION IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS INFANT INFANTICIDE INFECTION INFECTION RATES INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING PERSPECTIVES KIDNEYS LEGISLATION LIFE EVENTS MARRIED WOMEN MEDICAL SCIENCES MEDICINE MORTALITY MORTALITY DIFFERENTIALS MOTHER MOTHERS NEWBORNS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITIONAL STATUS PATIENTS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT POPULATION DIVISION POPULATION STUDIES PREFERENCE FOR SONS PREGNANT WOMEN PREVALENCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRESS PUBLIC LIFE PUBLIC SERVICES RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS SEX SEX DIFFERENCES SEX RATIO SEX RATIOS SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS SEXES SOCIAL AFFAIRS SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS SON PREFERENCE SOUTH ASIAN SPONTANEOUS ABORTIONS STATE POLICIES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TROPICAL DISEASES URBANIZATION VACCINATION CAMPAIGN VACCINATION CAMPAIGNS VITAL STATISTICS WIFE WIVES WOMAN WORLD POPULATION |
| spellingShingle |
BABIES BIRTH ORDER BIRTH ORDERS BIRTHS CHANCES OF SURVIVAL CHILD MORTALITY CULTURAL FACTORS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIFFERENTIALS IN HEALTH DIFFERENTIALS IN MORTALITY DISCRIMINATION DISEASE DISEASES DYING EARLY CHILDHOOD FAMILIES FAMILY COMPOSITION FATHER FATHERS FEMALE FEMALE CHILDREN FEMALE MORTALITY FEMALES FERTILITY FETUSES FIRST CHILD GENDER GENDER BIAS GENDER DIFFERENTIALS GENDER EQUITY HEALTH SURVEYS HEPATITIS HEPATITIS B VIRUS HUMAN BIOLOGY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUSBAND HUSBANDS IDEAS ABOUT GENDER ROLES IMMIGRANTS IMMUNIZATION IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS INFANT INFANTICIDE INFECTION INFECTION RATES INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING PERSPECTIVES KIDNEYS LEGISLATION LIFE EVENTS MARRIED WOMEN MEDICAL SCIENCES MEDICINE MORTALITY MORTALITY DIFFERENTIALS MOTHER MOTHERS NEWBORNS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUTRITIONAL STATUS PATIENTS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT POPULATION DIVISION POPULATION STUDIES PREFERENCE FOR SONS PREGNANT WOMEN PREVALENCE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRESS PUBLIC LIFE PUBLIC SERVICES RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS SEX SEX DIFFERENCES SEX RATIO SEX RATIOS SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS SEXES SOCIAL AFFAIRS SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS SON PREFERENCE SOUTH ASIAN SPONTANEOUS ABORTIONS STATE POLICIES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TROPICAL DISEASES URBANIZATION VACCINATION CAMPAIGN VACCINATION CAMPAIGNS VITAL STATISTICS WIFE WIVES WOMAN WORLD POPULATION Das Gupta, Monica Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| geographic_facet |
East Asia and Pacific China |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4502 |
| description |
China has a large deficit of females,
and public policies have sought to reduce the son preference
that is widely believed to cause this. Recently a study has
suggested that up to 75 percent of this deficit is
attributable to hepatitis B infection, indicating that
immunization programs should form the first plank of policy
interventions. However, a large medical dataset from Taiwan
(China) shows that hepatitis B infection raises women's
probability of having a son by only 0.25 percent. And
demographic data from China show that the only group of
women who have elevated probabilities of bearing a son are
those who have already borne daughters. This pattern makes
it difficult to see how any biological factor can explain a
large part of the imbalance in China's sex ratios at
birth -- unless it can be shown that it somehow selectively
affects those who have borne girls, or causes them to first
bear girls and then boys. The Taiwanese data suggest that
this is not the case with hepatitis B, since its impact is
unaffected by the sex composition of previous births. The
data support the cultural, rather than the biological,
explanation for the "missing women." |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Das Gupta, Monica |
| author_facet |
Das Gupta, Monica |
| author_sort |
Das Gupta, Monica |
| title |
Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| title_short |
Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| title_full |
Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| title_fullStr |
Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Does Hepatitis B Infection or Son Preference Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence |
| title_sort |
does hepatitis b infection or son preference explain the bulk of gender imbalance in china? a review of the evidence |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/8980990/hepatitis-b-infection-or-son-preference-explain-bulk-gender-imbalance-china-review-evidence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6392 |
| _version_ |
1764400277680553984 |