How does a ban on sex‐selective abortions affect child health?
研究了印度禁止性别选择性堕胎对儿童健康的影响，发现该政策导致头胎为女孩的家庭中儿童死亡率上升，可能源于生育增加和资源竞争加剧。
Bans on sex-selective abortions are typically implemented to make sex ratios more equitable, but they may have adverse effects on surviving children. We examine the impacts of a ban on prenatal sex selection in India on postnatal health outcomes. We first show that the ban increased the share of female children born to mothers, especially among firstborn female families. Strikingly, we also find that the ban led to a worsening of mortality outcomes for both girls and boys in firstborn female families. In terms of mechanisms, we find that fertility increases in firstborn female families after the ban, pointing to the following channel: firstborn female families are disproportionately affected by the ban and are more likely to use the son-biased fertility stopping rule to achieve a desired number of sons. Children in firstborn female families likely face greater competition for parental resources, which may worsen their health.