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Where There Is a Will: Fertility Behavior and Sex Bias in Large Families
- Journal of Human Resources
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Volume 49, Number 2, Spring 2014
- pp. 393-423
- 10.1353/jhr.2014.0009
- Article
- Additional Information
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This paper demonstrates that the social institutions of lineage maintenance, patrilocality, and joint families have a significant role in explaining sex differences in survival and health outcomes in rural India. Tests using panel data from rural households support this explanation, which accounts for 7 percent of excess female mortality in Haryana and Rajasthan and 4 percent in Punjab. An institutional explanation suggests limits on the role for public policy in addressing large sex differences in health and mortality outcomes.