Table 4

Accounting for Sex-selective Abortions

 Dependent Variable: At Least Two Prenatal Visits (1=Yes; 0=No)
(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
Male0.029***
(0.008)
0.028***
(0.008)
0.028***
(0.008)
0.028***
(0.008)
0.028***
(0.008)
Proportion of all aborted pregnancies0.065*
(0.035)
   0.053
(0.044)
Proportion of induced aborted pregnancies 0.079
(0.060)
  0.027
(0.081)
Negative rain shock (year of conception)  0.006
(0.015)
 0.006
(0.015)
Firstborn child was male   0.006
(0.013)
0.006
(0.014)
Mean of dependent variable0.5730.5730.5650.5730.565
State fixed effectsYesYesYesYesYes
Survey year fixed effectsYesYesYesYesYes
Birth year fixed effectsYesYesYesYesYes
Dummy for each wealth quintileYesYesYesYesYes
Observations13,87713,87710,36313,87710,363
R-squared0.3790.3790.3850.3790.385
  • Robust standard errors in parentheses

  • *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05,

  • * p<0.1

  • Notes: Sample is restricted to most recent birth of ever-married women (ages 15–49) within five years previous to the 1998–99 survey only. Proportion of all aborted pregnancies is defined as total abortions/total pregnancies. Proportion of induced aborted pregnancies is defined as total induced abortions/total pregnancies. Negative rain shock is equal to one if the yearly rainfall at the state level is more than 30 percent above or below the 20-year state-specific average during the year of conception. Rainfall information not available for all states. Other controls include mother’s age, mother’s education, dummy for urban, birth order, and existing sex ratio of children (defined as the ratio of boys to the total number of births prior to the most recent one). National sample weights are used in all regressions.