Investments in Sons and Daughters: Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey

We test for differences in parental investment in sons and daughters by estimating the effect of child gender on household expenditures. Using Consumer Expenditure Survey data from 1990 to 1998, we find that the expenditures of married-couple families with one son do not differ significantly from those of couples with one daughter in most spending categories, including education and ‘adult goods’ such as alcohol and tobacco. However, families with a son spend significantly more on housing and personal care services than do families with one daughter, and families with one daughter spend more on clothing. Housing expenditures are examined in detail for one-child and two-child households, and the results interpreted in terms of an economic model of the family in which marital surplus, and therefore incentives to invest in the family, depends on child gender. * Prepared for the Joint Center for Poverty Research 2002 September Research Institute, “Family Investments in Children’s Potential: Resources and Behaviors that Promote Children’s Success,” Chicago, IL, September 19-20, 2002. We are grateful to Ekaterina Stepanova and Anoshua Chaudhuri for excellent research assistance, and NIH/NICHD for research support (R01 HD42785-01).