TY  - JOUR
AU  - Oster,Emily
TI  - Does Increased Access Increase Equality? Gender and Child Health Investments in India
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12743
PY  - 2006
Y2  - December 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12743
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12743.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Emily Oster
University of Chicago
Department of Economics
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/834-1552
Fax: 773-834-8172
E-Mail: eoster@uchicago.edu
M3  - presented at "Education, Childrens and Higher Education Meetings", April 27-28, 2006
AB  - Policymakers often argue that increasing access to health care is one crucial avenue for decreasing gender inequality in the developing world. Although this is generally true in the cross section, time series evidence does not always point to the same conclusion. This paper analyzes the relationship between access to child health investments and gender inequality in those health investments in India. A simple theory of gender-biased parental investment suggests that gender inequality may actually be non-monotonically related to access to health investments. At low levels of availability, investment in girls and boys is low but equal; as availability increases, boys get investments first, creating inequality.  As availability increases further, girls also receive investments and equality is restored.  I test this theory using data on the relationship between gender balance in vaccinations and the availability of "Health Camps" in India.  I find support for a non-monotonic relationship. This result may shed light on the contrast between the cross-sectional and time-series evidence on gender and development, and may provide guidance for health policy in developing countries.
ER  -