Download This PaperWar, Marriage Markets, and the Sex Ratio at Birth
19 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2014
Date Written: July 2014
Abstract
In belligerent countries, male‐to‐female sex ratios at birth increased during and shortly after the two world wars. These rises occurred amidst dramatically changed marriage‐market conditions caused by war‐related declines in adult sex ratios, and still defy explanation. Based on county‐level census data for the German state of Bavaria in the years just before and immediately after World War II, we explore the reduced‐form relationship between changes in marriage‐market tightness (the adult sex ratio) and changes in the offspring sex ratio, and we discuss potential mechanisms that might link the two. Our results suggest that war‐induced shortfalls of men significantly increased the percentage of boys among newborns.
Keywords: Marriage markets, sex ratio at birth, World War II
JEL Classification: J12, J13, N34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
The Quiet Revolution that Transformed Women's Employment, Education, and Family
-
How Do Sex Ratios Affect Marriage and Labor Markets? Evidence from America's Second Generation
-
Women, War and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Mid-Century
By Daron Acemoglu, David H. Autor, ...
-
Women, War and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Mid-Century
By Daron Acemoglu, David H. Autor, ...
-
Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China: The Effect of Sex-Specific Earnings on Sex Imbalance
By Nancy Qian
-
Fertility, Education and Development: Further Evidence from India
By Jean Drèze and Mamta Murthi