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American Economic Review Vol. 107 No. 5 2017

Excess Male Infant Mortality: The Gene-Institution Interactions

Roland Pongou1; Barthelemy Kuate Defo2; Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene3

1 Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, 120 University, Ottawa, ON KN1 6N5, Canada (e-mail: ) · 2 Département de Démographie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, 3150, rue Jean-Brillant, Montréal, QC H3T 1N8, Canada (e-mail: ) · 3 Statistics Canada, 150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway, Ottawa, ON K1A OT6, Canada (e-mail: )

Abstract

Excess male mortality at early ages is an important source of child inequality in most societies. We examine how improvement in the quality of political institutions affects the male survival disadvantage. Using data on twins in combination with a natural experiment on the development of African institutions, we quantify the distinct effects of biology and preconception environment on the infant mortality sex gap and find that these effects are important only in poor institutions. The analysis implies that improved institutions constrain genetic expression and mitigate preconception influences on excess male infant mortality, which is an optimistic finding with pragmatic implications.

DOI
10.1257/aer.p20171146
Volume
107
Issue
5
Pages
541-545
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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