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Preference for Boys, Family Size, and Educational Attainment in India

Author

Listed:
  • Adriana D. Kugler

    (Georgetown University
    National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
    Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
    Centre for Research & Analysis of Migration (CReAM))

  • Santosh Kumar

    (Sam Houston State University)

Abstract

Using data from nationally representative household surveys, we test whether Indian parents make trade-offs between the number of children and investments in education. To address the endogeneity due to the joint determination of quantity and quality of children, we instrument family size with the gender of the first child, which is plausibly random. Given a strong son preference in India, parents tend to have more children if the firstborn is a girl. Our instrumental variable results show that children from larger families have lower educational attainment and are less likely to be enrolled in school, with larger effects for rural, poorer, and low-caste families as well as for families with illiterate mothers.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriana D. Kugler & Santosh Kumar, 2017. "Preference for Boys, Family Size, and Educational Attainment in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 835-859, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:54:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s13524-017-0575-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-017-0575-1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quantity-quality trade-off; Education; Family size; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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