Can Abortion Mitigate Transitory Shocks? Demographic Consequences under Son Preference

Abstract

This paper investigates abortion in response to drought-induced transitory income shocks and how son preference regulates such adjustments for rural mothers in Vietnam. I find that affected mothers were 30 percent more likely to obtain abortions when they were unable to smooth consumption. Importantly, drought is associated with disproportionately more abortions of female fetuses, which exacerbates the male-biased sex ratio at birth. Although a rebound in birth rates after approximately two years suggests that the effects of drought are pertinent to the timing of fertility, transitory shocks under son preference can have long-term demographic consequences by increasing the number of “missing girls”.