| Abstract: |
Among European countries, Albania has by far the highest sex ratio at birth
with 1.12 boys per girl, compared to the European average of 1.058.
Considering this disbalance, this study analyzes the relative importance of
three underlying mechanisms: sex bias in parents’ preferences for children,
the gender gap in intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. We develop a
parsimonious model which incorporates different utilities for boys and girls,
the bargaining between family members, and the decision about abortion
dependent on its cost and including social stigma. We calibrate the model
using data from the Demographic and Health Survey dataset on Albania for the
year 2008 by measuring the preference for children of both sexes by the time
invested in the child, education, violence, and women empowerment by how
independent are women in taking their own decisions. We find that if we
increase gender empowerment and equalize preference in children, the sex ratio
decreases by 0.04 but it remains above its biological value. This residual
could be interpreted as cultural norms affecting the decision-making and not
allowing the above indicators in bringing sex ratios down to their biological
values. To conclude we discuss different policies that can help in the decline
of the sex ratio disparity while accounting for norms. |