[Sex preference in Taiwan--an exploratory study].

Abstract

The quality of children has mostly been discussed in so far as it can affect fertility. The sex of children is a particularly important subject in this context. Because a child's sex is stochastically determined, Ben-Porath and Welch used the household production approach to identify risky decision points. The purpose of this paper is twofold. One is to simplify Ben-Porath's and Welch's model. The other is to use KAP data in Taiwan to examine the causes of preferring to have at least 1 boy and to test in what direction and the degree to which such preferences affect fertility. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) preferring to have at least 1 boy is significant in Taiwan; 2) the data support both the assumption of inelastic demand and mild learning; 3) concerning the dummy variable for the existence of at least 1 boy preference, it can be shown that the regression coefficients for each of family structure, wife's education, and husband's occupation were statistically significant at the .01 significance level; and 4) when the impact of "at least 1 boy preference" on completed family size is concerned, the regression coefficient for the existence of at least 1 boy preference is positive as expected and also the most significant variable included.