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Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain sex selection in India:
son preference in which parents desire a male heir and daughter
aversion in which dowry payments make parents worse off with girls.
Our model incorporates both mechanisms, providing micro-foundations,
based on the organization of the marriage institution, for daughter aversion.
Marital matching, sex selection, and dowries are jointly determined
in the model, whose implications are tested on a representative
sample of rural households. Simulations of the model indicate that existing
policies targeting daughter aversion might exacerbate the problem,
while identifying other policies that could be effective.
