Abstract
Preference for sons is widespread in India and China. Modern technology allowing prenatal sex determination considerably lowers the cost of choosing the sex of offspring. This paper models endogenous sex-choice and shows that unbalanced sex ratios is but one of several possible consequences ofa preference for sons. In particular, we point to the possibility of women consistently being born into low status families and thus relegated to a permanent under class. Also we show that a preference for sons could result in spousal age gaps, caste endogamy and cousin marriages. Finally we argue that social mobility rather than a quantity restrictions on number of offspring such as the Chinese one-child policy, could be a driving factor behind the recent increase in sex ratios observed in both China and India.