Market opportunities, genetic endowments and intrafamily resource distribution: child survival in rural India
Rosenzweig, M.R.; Schultz, T.P.
American Economic Review 72(4): 803-815
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-8282 DOI: 10.2307/1810018Document Number: 414249
This paper examines how intrafamily resource allocations respond to changes in economic conditions and to genetic differences in children by estimating the determinants of variations in the sex-specific survival differentials of rural Indian children, based on standard census and household survey data. In particular, the hypothesis that large cross-sectional variations in sex differences in child survival rates are related to the relative returns to survival, with households selectively allocating resources to children in response to variation in sex differences in their expected earnings opportunities as adults. Results indicate that the intrahousehold allocation of resources is highly responsive to market signals. In particular, where women's expected employment in the labour market is relatively high, female children evidently receive a larger share of household resources relative to male children. The sex differences in the expected productive roles of adults appear, moreover, to dominate differences in wealth or educational levels in accounting for the variation in the sex-specific survival rates of Indian children.