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Title: Sons, Daughters, and Labor Supply in Early Twentieth-Century Hawaii.

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: Massive immigration to Hawaii between 1868 and 1924 transformed the ethnic structureand size of its population. Sex ratios of men and women of marriageable age weresometimes larger than 2.0 for Chinese, Japanese, and Caucasian residents. Weinvestigate whether the skewed sex ratios increased the bargaining power of relativelyscarce females, allowing them to negotiate more favorable terms to their marriages and toallocate more family resources to female children. Using three IPUMS data samplesfrom the 1900, 1910, and 1920 Territorial Censuses of Hawaii, we estimate the effects ofchildren and, in particular, the differential effects of sons and daughters on the laborsupply of married men and married womens. We find that married men tend to workmore and married women less when a daughter is added to their family. By contrast, thedecline in labor supply of married women is smaller and the increase in labor supply ofmarried men is larger when a son is added to their family.

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Authors: La Croix, Sumner; Halliday, Timothy

Conference Name: Economic History Seminar, Rutgers University

Publisher Location: Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Migration and Immigration, Other

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