Where There Is a Will: Fertility Behavior and Sex Bias in Large Families

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.