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There’s a natural ratio of men to women for our species, and it is not equal. For every 100 girls, 105 boys are born. But in some places, like India and China, the ratio is skewed. One Chinese city recorded an astounding 163 boys born per 100 girls. So, why is this happening?
The ultrasound.
The expanding use of this technology has allowed expecting parents to abort unwanted girls and keep the boys. The ability to sex-select has caused the disappearance of an estimated 160 million girls in Asia alone.
In this Marketplace segment, Stephen J. Dubner reports on the unintended consequences that come with new technology. You’ll hear from Mara Hvistendahl, the author of Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, Stephen Quake, a biophysicist at Stanford, and Freakonomics co-author and University of Chicago economist Steve Levitt.
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While it may have been an unintended consequence for the manufacturer, it may be not so unintended for the governments involved.
A skewed ratio of women to men may be the perfect stealth population control technique in countries with deep suspicions of – or outright hostility toward – population politics.
Statisticians measure reproductive rates in terms of live-births-per-female. Fewer females means fewer live births.
In male dominated South Asia, more men mean more workers.
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@PP,
I was about to make my maiden letter to this fine blog but was wise enough to review the comments made. You made my argument.
While this situation does decrease future birthrates it can be disastrously destabilizing to a developing society. Men without wives and therefore families/children are much more prone to violence and other anti-social behavior than men that are tied down so to speak. They are also less able to cowed by the government through the availability of jobs or threats to their families, both direct and indirect. While there are positives to the latter, there is a reason China is scared to death about social unrest in a country as large an as unwieldy as it is.
Anyway, this is good news for the West which actually embraces both Women’s rights and Women’s skills. We need whatever competitive advantages we can get these days.
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A lot of western businesses that have operations in east Asia take advantage of this by hiring lots of women that the local companies won’t touch and hiring them cheap.
You should look at what R.A. Fisher had to say about the sex ratio.
In both fruit flies and humans Fisher’s Principle will adjust the skewed ratio in a few generations.
Unlike fruit flies, human have societal repercussions that could potentially costly more – during the time it takes for the ratio to regress to the mean – than the benefit of a decrease in population in an already overpopulated region.
So means that roughly a quarter of the male population has zero chance of getting married. I really wonder how that will affect social stability.
Two consequences of having a lot more men than available women:
Increased homosexuality, which is officially taboo in China. Is it possible that a large number of militant homosexuals might lead societal change?
A bunch of angry, frustrated young men, many of whom would be enlisted in the world’s largest standing army. What are the chances of some untoward event, like a missile fired off by some young hothead, initiating a war? If I lived in Taiwan, I would be worried.
KevinB: “… consequences of having a lot more men than available women: Increased homosexuality…”
Oh really? This will surprise a lot of gay guys. And an excess of women?…more lesbians?
Kevin’s theory does hold up in prisons.
“Is it possible that a large number of militant homosexuals might lead societal change?
If by societal change, you mean improved grooming and greater attention to fashion across society, yes, I believe this is possible.
They’ll import mail order brides from Vietnam and other parts of southeast Asia before that happens. It’s not uncommon for rural Chinese men to marry women from even poorer Asian nations because none of the Chinese women want anything to do with them.
It will sure make prostitution boom. I would bet that prostitutes have fewer children on average than other women. This would further drive down the birth rate… good!
Where is the OUTRAGE?? I’m pretty sure you’ve repeatedly said “160 million”. I’ll ask once more … where is the moral outrage???
More interesting to me:
Where is the outrage that deliberate sex selection through abortion is legal in the USA? We condemn it as barbaric in India (where it is illegal) and China, but it appears that there are no laws banning it here at home, and it is done.
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One wonders if multiplemarriages (of the more than one male variety), licit or illicit, might become more common.
I’d say it’s either that or good old fashioned trench warfare.
Violence would certainly be higher per capita in a more male society.
Possibly also a problem in the UK. See
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-499284/Britains-missing-babies-A-chilling-new-investigation-reveals-disturbing-trend.html
This might be a long term positive for Women’s rights. As women become scarcer they should become more valuable and reverse the centuries old traditions of being seen as burdens (due to dowry costs, leaving the household, etc). If having a girl means she can win substantial compensation for her family in a marriage then the supply of girls should naturally increase, only this time with increased respect.
It’s been getting more and more expensive for years for a Chinese man to get married, bride prices have been coming back into fashion, particularly in the south, and the groom’s family is expected to provide a house (and possibly a car) for the newlyweds.