PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S Anukriti
AU  - Abhishek Chakravarty
TI  - Democracy and Demography: Societal Effects of Fertility Limits on Local Leaders
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.54.1.1016.8308R2
DP  - 2017 Sep 05
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 1016-8308R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/09/01/jhr.54.1.1016.8308R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/09/01/jhr.54.1.1016.8308R2.full
AB  - We investigate whether restricting elected leadership positions to candidates with “desirable” characteristics leads to the society-wide adoption of those characteristics in a democracy with high political participation. Exploiting quasi-experimental variation in fertility limits imposed on village council members in India to curb population growth, we find that rural couples significantly decreased fertility in response and child survival improved. The limits however also increased the already male-biased sex ratio at birth in castes with strong son preference.