Severe sex imbalance exists in many developing countries. However,
the observed association between sex ratios and economic conditions re-
flects omitted variables such as sex preference. This paper uses exogenous
increases in agricultural income and relative female income caused by
post-Mao reforms to estimate the effect of total household income and
relative female income on sex ratios of surviving children. To correct for
measurement error, I instrument for tea planting with geographical data.
The results show that increasing income alone has no effect whereas increasing
relative adult female income has an immediate and positive effect
on survival rates for girls and education attainment for boys and girls.
Conversely, increasing relative adult male income has an immediate and
negative effect on the survival rate and education attainment for girls.