Does the sex composition of existing children in a family affect fertility behavior? An unusually large data set, covering 64 countries and some 5 million births, is used to show that fertility behavior responds to the presence--or absence--of sons in many regions of the developing world. The...

Between 1992 and 1998 the Peruvian Social Fund (foncodes) spent about US$570 million funding microprojects throughout the country. Many of these projects involved constructing and renovating school facilities. This article uses data from foncodes, the 1993 population census in Peru, and a 1996...

The impact of macroeconomic crises on the investments made by parents in the human capital of their children is a question of considerable policy importance. Analysis of the effects of the profound 1988--92 macroeconomic crisis in Peru on the schooling and employment decisions of school-age...

Analysis of 14 household surveys from 13 developing countries suggests that 1--2 percent of the population have disabilities. Adults with disabilities typically live in poorer than average households: disability is associated with about a 10 percentage point increase in the probability of...

The effect of macroeconomic crises on child health is a topic of great policy importance. This article analyzes the impact of a profound crisis in Peru on infant mortality. It finds an increase of about 2.5 percentage points in the infant mortality rate for children born during the crisis of the...

Industry affiliation provides an important channel through which trade liberalization can affect worker earnings and wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers. This empirical study of the impact of the 1988--94 trade liberalization in Brazil on the industry wage structure suggests...