Sex ratio at birth: A model based approach

Abstract

There are many biological and social determinants of the sex ratio (the ratio of the number of males to the total number of children) at birth (SRB). Among these, sex selective abortion is considered the most effective. This paper attempts to examine the impact of the practice of sex selective abortion on the SRB under different hypothetical situations. This paper also investigates the effect of the desire of a sex combination of children on the SRB under different stopping rules for heterogeneity in the population regarding the probability of producing a male child (p). The results presented here are intended to further clarify the impact of some possible stopping rules on the SRB. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.