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Is Child Marriage an Unintended Consequence of a Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion?

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  • Doireann O'Brien

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin)

Abstract

The introduction of prenatal sex-detection technologies has led to a surge in the abortion of female foetuses in South and East Asia. Bans on sex-selection are typically introduced to combat this practice, but they may have unintended consequences for girls due to persistent norms of son preference. This paper identifies an increase in child marriage as one such consequence in the context of India. I exploit a natural experiment created by Maharashtra's implementation of a ban on sex-selection while it remained legal in neighbouring states. I find that treated girls born after the policy’s implementation were significantly more likely to be married as children. This effect is strongest among scheduled tribe and caste communities, who face greater barriers to evading the ban. I find little evidence for a marriage-squeeze channel. A plausible mechanism is that child marriage is used as an alternative coping strategy to abortion, against the costliness of raising daughters.

Suggested Citation

  • Doireann O'Brien, 2025. "Is Child Marriage an Unintended Consequence of a Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion?," Trinity Economics Papers tep0925, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0925
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    File URL: https://www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/2025/TEP0925.pdf
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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