Gaps in welfare attainment between boys and girls in China have
attracted international attention. In this paper demand analysis is
used to try and uncover the factors which may be driving the
emergence of the gender gaps. Drawing on household
expenditure data from a poor (Sichuan) and rich (Jiangsu) Chinese
province we are able to test for different types of gender bias in
intra-household allocation. Spending on health is found to be
biased against young girls in the poor but not in the rich province,
whereas there is a bias in education spending against older girls in
both provinces. These biases in household spending were found
to correspond to gender biases in mortality and enrolment
outcomes as revealed in census data for the same year. Split
sample analysis reveals that poorer, less diversified households
exhibit stronger biases against girls. Taken together, the results
suggest that son preference in rural China is not driven solely by
cultural factors pointing to a potential role for public policy.