Missing Women , the Marriage Market and Economic Growth

Panel data from green-revolution India are used to re-assess (i) whether gender differences in survival rates reflect returns to human capital and (ii) to what extent policies promoting economic growth can affect the female survival deficit. Consistent with the implications of a general equilibrium framework that incorporates patrilocal exogamy and human captial-technological change, we show empirically that (i) local demand for literate wives increases significantly in areas in which agricultural growth is expected to rise, and (ii) relative survival rates, sex-preference, and schooling completion of boys and respond in opposite directions to changing local and regional rates of technological progress.