LSE

LJE

Education & Health

Birth Order, Gender, and Child Nutritional Status in Punjab

Project members:
Theresa Chaudhry, Lahore School of Economics
Maha Khan, York University

Jayachandran and Pande (2015) have found a steep birth order gradient in height-for-age, a standard measure of long-term nutritional status, for Indian children in comparison to several African countries. On the other hand, they find that first-born sons are taller than their African equivalents, in part reflecting favoritism toward eldest sons. In replicating this exercise for data from Pakistan, we also find a steep birth order gradient and evident of son-biased fertility stopping.