This paper investigates the effect of demographic sex imbalances on women’s welfare in India. Using a detailed district-level data set covering over 40 years, we estimate the effect of a surplus of males at marriageable and crime-prone ages on violence committed against women. Our identification comes from exploiting the variation in age-specific sex ratios across gender and non-gender based crimes. We find that an increase in the surplus of males in marriageable ages increases violence against women, but not acquisitive crime. This effect is not due to sex imbalances outside of marriageable ages and we do not find consistent effects on other forms of violent crime. Our results are explained by a surplus of unmarried men in this age-group.
Presented by:
Sofia Amaral (ISER)
Date & time:
June 1, 2016 11:00 am - June 1, 2016 12:00 pm
Venue:
2N2.4.16
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