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Soil endowments, female labor force participation and the demographic deficit of women in India

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  • Carranza, Eliana

Abstract

Differences in relative female employment by soil texture are used to explain the heterogeneous deficit of female children across districts within India. Soil texture varies exogenously and determines the depth of land tillage. Deep tillage, possible in loamy but not in clayey soil textures, reduces the demand for labor in agricultural tasks traditionally performed by women. Girls have a lower economic value where female labor opportunities are fewer. Consistently, higher relative female employment in agriculture improves the ratio of female to male children in districts that have a smaller fraction of loamy relative to clayey soils.

Suggested Citation

  • Carranza, Eliana, 2012. "Soil endowments, female labor force participation and the demographic deficit of women in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5974, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5974
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Population Policies; Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems; Labor Markets; Crops and Crop Management Systems; Common Property Resource Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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