Culture and son preference: Evidence from immigrants to the United States

This paper extends the existing literature on son preference using an epidemiological approach to determine which cultural beliefs contribute most to son preference. We measure son preference by the increased fertility response due to a first-born female child. The coefficient giving the increase in the fertility response to a first-born female associated with a change in the equity index grows by over 50% when religious variables are included. We believe this highlights the importance of controlling for multiple cultural factors which may be correlated across home countries. The analysis shows that the major cultural determinants of son preference are gender economic inequities, while measures of women's relative educational and political standing are largely irrelevant. Across the distribution of economic equity on our sample, the fertility response to a first-born female change from a 6.5% increase to a 1.6% decrease in the average number of children per household.