Trade, Maternal Time Costs, and Sex Selection: Evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

How does economic development influence sex selection when parents face pressures from work, childcare, and son preference? We investigate this question in Vietnam using the 2001 trade liberalization. Our model integrates son preference into a quantity-quality framework with maternal childcare burdens to generate distinct predictions from competing theories. By exploiting tariff cuts across industries, we find that women in exposed industries have more male children, fewer births, and work more. The impacts stem from maternal exposure rather than fathers' industries or local markets, indicating that income, bargaining, or relative returns to daughters have little effect.

Keywords: Sex ratio at birth, Trade agreement, Vietnam

JEL Classification: O24, J13, J16, J22