Gender and Demography

Question 1

The price of tea on female survival rates

Answer 1

The price of tea acts as a proxy for increasing female wages. The price of tea increases female survival rates through increases in (a) total income (b) sex-differential survival (c) educational attainment

1. Increase relative desirability of girls by increasing parental perception of daughters future earnings
2. Total income -> Increase relative desirability of girls as daughters seen as luxury good relative to son
3. Increase in wife’s bargaining power -> mothers prefer daughters > fathers prefer sons
4. increases in female specific income -> Increases in cost of sex selection as births preceded knowing the gender of the child

Results for female survival rates
1 unit increase in planting tea leaves decreases ratio of sons: daughters
1 unit increase in planting orchards increases ratio of sons: daughters

Results for educational attainment
1 unit increase in planting tea leaves increases educational attainment for both sons and daughters
1 unit increase in planting orchards decreases educational attainment for daughters while leaving sons unchanged.

Question 2

High value work and the rise of women

Answer 2

Cotton revolution (exogenous shock) -> specialization in cotton weaving -> women become major earners
Authors observe a shift in cultural beliefs after the cotton revolution by observing an increase in the proportion of poets portraying women favourably

Persistent and negative correlation between cotton weaving and sex imbalance at birth
Changes in gender-equitable beliefs occur until relative female wages pass a certain threshold

Question 3

Lecture notes

Answer 3

Changing female virtues captured by observing the reduction in time for a female to be granted ‘virtue’ by the state.
1304: 50 years of fidelity
1723: 15 years of fidelity
early 19th c: 10 years of fidelity