India: The Youngest Are Hungriest
This favoritism toward firstborn sons emerges before babies are even born; in fact, the India-Africa height gap is apparent at birth, and remains consistent through childhood. Families allocate inordinate resources — nutritious foods, iron supplements, tetanus shots and prenatal checkups — to a pregnant woman as long as there is a possibility that she is carrying the family’s firstborn son. Once a male heir is born, prenatal investments drop off.
.. Parents will continue to lavish resources on their eldest sons if they see them as their only support in old age. But if we can improve the economic prospects for India’s women, we may be able to reduce the malnutrition of their children.