Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/98985 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8230
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper explores how the relative circumstances of men and women following marital dissolution affect sex-selection behavior within marriages. China's 2001 divorce reform liberalized divorce in favor of women and secured women's property rights after separation. We use this improvement in women's bargaining power in marriage for a regression discontinuity analysis of the demand for sex-selective abortions. We show that the increase in women's bargaining power reduces the propensity to have a son after a firstborn daughter by 8.9 percentage points. We also find that the effect is larger for women with higher health risks.
Subjects: 
gender inequality
intra-household allocation
divorce law
JEL: 
D13
J12
J13
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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