Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/207454 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12629
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines the effects of a massive salt iodization program on human capital formation of school-aged children in China. Exploiting province and time variation we find strong positive effects on cognition for girls and no effects for boys. For non-cognitive skills we find the opposite. We show in a simple model of parental investment that gender preferences can explain our findings. Analyses exploiting within province, village level variation in gender attitudes confirm the importance of parental gender preferences. Consequently, large scale programs can have positive (and possibly) unintended effects on gender equality in societies where boy preferences are important.
Subjects: 
iodine
parental investments
gender attitudes
cognitive skills
non-cognitive skills
JEL: 
I15
J16
J24
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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