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Sex of first child: like migrant father, like son

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

Shan Li Open the ORCID record for Shan Li [Opens in a new window]
Shan Li*
Affiliation:
School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: Coral28@gwmail.gwu.edu
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Abstract

As males in Mexico have the authority in households and dominate migration flows to the US, this paper argues that having a son as the first child provides an early additional candidate for the anchor position in Mexico and for migration trips to the US, making households better off. Fathers with longer migration experiences have higher expectations for future migration trips and stronger incentives to manipulate the sex of their first child. The empirical analysis confirms that by presenting positive effects of fathers’ previous migration experiences on the probability of having a son as a firstborn child, though abortions are widely illegal in Mexico.

Keywords

Migration durationsex of firstbornsubstitution effects

JEL classification

J61: Geographic Labor Mobility • Immigrant Workers J13: Fertility • Family Planning • Child Care • Children • Youth J16: Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination
Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , First View , pp. 1 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2022

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