Working Paper
The effect of China’s One Child Policy on sex selection, family size, and the school enrolment of daughters

I first document that the introduction of the One Child Policy dramatically increased sex selection in certain regions, and that the Chinese government responded to this by allowing parents who had a daughter as their first child to try for a second child.

Next, I show that the increase in family size caused by this relaxation in the One Child Policy increased school enrolment of first-born daughters. The analysis provides suggestive evidence that economies of scale in childrearing and short-term income demands contribute to the main results.