title: [Sex preference in Taiwan--an exploratory study].
abstract: The quality of children has mostly been discussed in so far as it can affect fertility.  The sex of children is a particularly important subject in this context.  Because a child's sex is stochastically determined, Ben-Porath and Welch used the household production approach to identify risky decision points.  The purpose of this paper is twofold.  One is to simplify Ben-Porath's and Welch's model.  The other is to use KAP data in Taiwan to examine the causes of preferring to have at least 1 boy and to test in what direction and the degree to which such preferences affect fertility.  The results can be summarized as follows:  1) preferring to have at least 1 boy is significant in Taiwan; 2) the data support both the assumption of inelastic demand and mild learning; 3) concerning the dummy variable for the existence of at least 1 boy preference, it can be shown that the regression coefficients for each of family structure, wife's education, and husband's occupation were statistically significant at the .01 significance level; and 4) when the impact of "at least 1 boy preference" on completed family size is concerned, the regression coefficient for the existence of at least 1 boy preference is positive as expected and also the most significant variable included.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001208:Asia; D001519:Behavior; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005195:Family Relations; D005202:Asia, Eastern; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011584:Psychology; D012106:Research; D012723:Sex; D012945:Social Values; D013624:Taiwan