Gender Bias and The Indonesian Financial Crisis: Were Girls Hit Hardest?

We analyze how the financial crisis affected a wide range of investments in Indonesian children and children's outcomes including school enrollment, immunizations, and mortality. Our dataset is the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), a large nationally representative sample. We build on past research by differentiating outcomes for boys and for girls, and by separating regions heavily affected by the financial crisis from others that were relatively unhurt. Along most dimensions, children were well protected. Contrary to some theory and press reports, girls did not fare worse than boys during the crisis.