This paper examines whether increased background mortality risks induce households to make differential health … investments in their high- versus low-endowment children. We argue that increases in background mortality risks may … disproportionately affect the survival of the low-endowment sibling, consequently increasing the mortality gap between the high- and low …

The introduction of prenatal sex-detection technologies in India has led to a phenomenal increase in abortion of female … fetuses. This paper examines the impacts of this on girl relative to boy mortality rates after birth, using data from 1973 …-2005. The analysis finds a narrowing of the gender gap in under-5 mortality rates, in line with surviving girls being more …

the role of mortality differences for comparative development. The framework can replicate the quantitative patterns in … endogenous variables across countries. The results suggest that differences in extrinsic mortality might explain a substantial …