Do Sex Preferences Really Matter?

Yoram Ben-Porath, Finis Welch

Expert InsightsPublished 1975

An exploration of several facets of parents' preference for sons. First, a model is described with behavioral implications for two alternative sources of sex preference. One assumes that preferences are taste based. Although the cases are deceptively similar, behavioral implications differ. A variety of evidence is presented showing that families seem to care about the sex of their children. Evidence for the United States also suggests that families differ in their chances for having sons. But, even though all of this evidence is statistically significant, orders of magnitude are numerically small. The net effect is that although sex preferences matter, the hypothetical existence of abilities to control for sex would probably have only slight effects on birth rates and aggregate sex ratios. 35 pp. Ref.

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1975
  • Pages: 35
  • Document Number: P-5560

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Ben-Porath, Yoram and Finis Welch, Do Sex Preferences Really Matter? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1975. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P5560.html.
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