Can Biological Factors Like Hepatitis B Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence

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dc.creatorGupta, Monica Das
dc.date2012-03-30T07:12:34Z
dc.date2012-03-30T07:12:34Z
dc.date2008-09-01
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-01T01:26:48Z
dc.descriptionA recent study challenges the assumption that the large deficit of girls in East and South Asia reflects the preference for sons, suggesting that much of the deficit—as much as 75 percent in China—is attributable to hepatitis B (HBV). The claim is inconsistent with the results of a study based on a large medical data set from Taiwan (China), which indicates that HBV infection raises a woman's probability of having a son by only 0.25 percent. In addition, demographic data from China show that the only group of women who have elevated probabilities of bearing sons are those who have already borne daughters. This pattern makes it difficult to see how any biological factor can explain a large part of the imbalance in China's sex ratios at birth, unless it can be shown that it somehow selectively affects those who have borne girls or causes them to first bear girls and then boys. The Taiwanese example suggests that this is not the case with HBV, the impact of which is unaffected by the sex composition of previous births. The data thus support the cultural rather than the biological explanation for gender imbalance.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierWorld Bank Research Observer
dc.identifier1564-6971
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/4420
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.1596/4420
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/418168
dc.publisherWorld Bank
dc.relationWorld Bank Research Observer
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rightshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/
dc.rightsWorld Bank
dc.subjectcensuses
dc.subjectchild mortality
dc.subjectdiscrimination
dc.subjectexcess mortality
dc.subjectfemale children
dc.subjectfemale infanticide
dc.subjectgender equity
dc.subjectkinship
dc.subjectmedical care
dc.subjectpopulation censuses
dc.subjectpreference for sons
dc.subjectprenatal sex selection
dc.subjectsex
dc.subjectsex ratio
dc.subjectsex ratios
dc.subjectsex-selective abortion
dc.subjectson preference
dc.subjectwar
dc.subjectwoman
dc.subjectyoung girls
dc.titleCan Biological Factors Like Hepatitis B Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China? A Review of the Evidence
dc.typeJournal Article
dc.typeArticle de journal
dc.typeArtículo de revista

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