Son Preference and Maternal Health: A Cross-Cultural and Temporal Analysis

Neha Agarwal; Annamaria Milazzo

doi:10.1086/739099

Back

Son Preference and Maternal Health: A Cross-Cultural and Temporal Analysis

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Son Preference and Maternal Health: A Cross-Cultural and Temporal Analysis

Neha Agarwal and Annamaria Milazzo

Economic development and cultural change

13/10/2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/739099

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/48453

Abstract

son preference

maternal morbidity and mortality

missing women

anemia

fertility

This paper examines how son preference and reproductive healthcare conditions interact to influence maternal morbidity and mortality. Using data on 2.5 million women across 44 developing countries between 1990 and 2018, we exploit cross-country variation in son preference intensity and healthcare conditions to document distinct patterns in maternal health. We show that in societies with strong son preference, women with first-born girls face higher incidence of moderate to severe anemia, a risk factor for maternal mortality. Moreover, these women exhibit lower survival into older ages where strong son preference coexists with poor maternal care. These patterns persist over time.

Files and links (1)

pdf

7390991.80 MB

AcceptedCC BY-NC V4.0, Embargoed Access, Embargo ends: 01/11/2026

Metrics

5 Record Views

Details

Record Identifier: 9926780635501891
Title: Son Preference and Maternal Health: A Cross-Cultural and Temporal Analysis
Creators: Neha Agarwal
Annamaria Milazzo
Publication Details: Economic development and cultural change
Academic Unit: Economics
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date published ; e-published: 13/10/2025
Copyright: Copyright © University of Chicago Press 2025. This version in OUR Archive is the author’s manuscript accepted for publication after peer-review. The published version is: Agarwal, N., & Milazzo, A. (2025). Son Preference and Maternal Health: A Cross-Cultural and Temporal Analysis. Economic Development and Cultural Change, https://doi.org/10.1086/739099. The author's accepted manuscript (AAM) is made available in accordance with the publisher’s policy and may be subject to an embargo period - please refer to the information in Files and Links for the embargo expiry date. After the embargo has expired, the AAM is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial use, reproduction, adaptation and distribution of the work in any medium provided the original work is properly attributed to the creator(s) and the source, a link to the Creative Commons license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
Comment: The published version is not available in full-text in OUR Archive. Where available, a link to the published version is provided (check the DOI and/or the Files and links section). The full-text item may be open access on the publisher's website. An earlier version of the work (such as authors' accepted manuscript following peer-review or unreviewed preprint/author's original version) may be available in the Files and links section of this record. Alternatively, readers may have subscription access to the full-text from the publisher.
Language: English
Resource Type ; Subtype: Journal article