Children's Gender and Men's Income: Evidence from Iran

40 Pages Posted: 15 Nov 2015

See all articles by Hossein Alikamar Abbasi

Hossein Alikamar Abbasi

University of Maryland, College Park.

Seyed Karimi

University of Washington - College of Arts and Sciences

Date Written: November 12, 2015

Abstract

In many societies, men work for more hours and acquire higher wages if they have sons versus daughters. Gender bias, higher returns to male children’s human capital, and higher costs of raising male children are hypothesized to explain this behavior; among these, gender bias has received stronger support from empirical studies. Using a four-year panel dataset, we show that a different institutional setting may make men respond to their children’s gender differently. We study men’s income in a dotal society, Iran, where families were expected to provide dowry for their marrying daughters. We show that, in contrast to the findings in developed countries, Iranian men earn more income when they have daughters versus sons, and we argue that the institution of marriage is the major reason for this unconventional result.

Keywords: Children’s Gender, Son, Daughter, Man’s Income, Marriage, Dotal Society, Dowry

JEL Classification: J12, J13, J16, J22, J24

Suggested Citation

Abbasi, Hossein Alikamar and Karimi, Seyed, Children's Gender and Men's Income: Evidence from Iran (November 12, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2689799 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2689799

Hossein Alikamar Abbasi (Contact Author)

University of Maryland, College Park. ( email )

Department of economics
7343 Preinkert Dr.
College park, MD Maryland 20742
United States
3014054784 (Phone)

Seyed Karimi

University of Washington - College of Arts and Sciences ( email )

Seattle, WA
United States

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