The demand for sons
The demand for sons
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1467-937x.2008.00514.x
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发表时间：
2008-10-01
影响因子：
5.8
通讯作者：
Moretti, Enrico
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dahl, Gordon B.;Moretti, Enrico
父母对子女的性别是否有偏好，如果有，这是否会对女儿而不是儿子产生负面影响？在本文中，我们表明，孩子的性别影响婚姻状况，家庭结构和生育率的显着数量的美国家庭。总的来说，与长子相比，长子女儿与父亲生活在一起的可能性要小得多。有三个重要因素可以解释这一差距。首先，有头胎女儿的妇女结婚的可能性较小。引人注目的是，我们还发现了子宫内孩子的性别影响鸟枪婚姻的证据。在怀孕期间接受超声波检查的妇女中，生女孩的母亲在分娩时结婚的可能性低于生男孩的母亲。第二，有头胎女孩的父母离婚的可能性要大得多。第三，离婚后，父亲比女儿更有可能获得儿子的监护权。这三个因素对受影响儿童的收入和教育产生了严重的负面影响。如何解释这些发现？在论文的最后一部分，我们转向儿童性别和生育率之间的关系，以帮助从对我们研究结果的竞争性解释中理清父母的性别偏见。我们发现，孩子的数量是显着较高的家庭与头胎女孩。我们的估计表明，头生女儿每年大约多生5500人，在过去40年中总共多生22万人。单独来看，每一项经验证据都不足以证明父母性别偏见的存在。但总的来说，这些证据支持了美国父母重男轻女的观点。
Do parents have preferences over the gender of their children, and if so, does this have negative consequences for daughters versus sons? In this paper, we show that child gender affects the marital status, family structure, and fertility of a significant number of American families. Overall, a first-born daughter is significantly less likely to be living with her father compared to a first-born son. Three factors are important in explaining this gap. First, women with first-born daughters are less likely to marry. Strikingly, we also find evidence that the gender of a child in utero affects shotgun marriages. Among women who have taken an ultrasound test during pregnancy, mothers who have a girl are less likely to be married at delivery than those who have a boy. Second, parents who have first-born girls are significantly more likely to be divorced. Third, after a divorce, fathers are much more likely to obtain custody of sons compared to daughters. These three factors have serious negative income and educational consequences for affected children. What explains these findings? In the last part of the paper, we turn to the relationship between child gender and fertility to help sort out parental gender bias from competing explanations for our findings. We show that the number of children is significantly higher in families with a first-born girl. Our estimates indicate that first-born daughters caused approximately 5500 more births per year, for a total of 220,000 more births over the past 40 years. Taken individually, each piece of empirical evidence is not sufficient to establish the existence of parental gender bias. But taken together, the weight of the evidence supports the notion that parents in the U.S. favour boys over girls.