Soil Endowments, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Deficit of Women in India
- (pp. 197-225)
Abstract
Differences in relative female employment by soil texture are used to explain the heterogeneous deficit of female children across districts within India. Soil texture varies exogenously and determines the depth of land tillage. Deep tillage, possible in loamy but not in clayey soil textures, reduces the demand for labor in agricultural tasks traditionally performed by women. Girls have a lower economic value where female labor opportunities are fewer. Consistently, higher relative female employment in agriculture improves the ratio of female to male children in districts that have a smaller fraction of loamy relative to clayey soils.Citation
Carranza, Eliana. 2014. "Soil Endowments, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Deficit of Women in India." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6 (4): 197-225. DOI: 10.1257/app.6.4.197Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J23 Labor Demand
- J43 Agricultural Labor Markets
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
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