after the ban of prenatal sex determination. Up until 2002, the sex ratio for birth order three or higher was 141 girls per 100 boys - suggesting that the technology to exercise son preference was available for couples who actively wanted to use it (DasGupta 2016).

Beyond this, there are no evaluations of the ban; it is difficult to isolate the treatment effect because of the simultaneity of other socioeconomic and legal developments. Yet, an examination of trends strongly suggests that the decline in Korean SRB was the result of normative change that followed years of urbanization and industrialization. Notably, legal amendments to promote gender equality followed these normative shifts. Section 5 discusses the Korean case study in further detail.

# _China_

Under the “Care for Girls” program (see Section A2 in the Appendix), the Government of China made one of the most vigorous attempts to implement the ban on sex selection practices in the 2000s. Women whose first child was female, and who were pregnant with their second child, were regularly monitored by local family planning workers and Women’s Federation workers. This group was targeted as it was believed that they were under the most pressure to ensure the second child was a boy. Strict penalties were imposed if an individual was found to be practicing sex selection. Doctors would lose their licenses, clinics would be fined, scan equipment would be confiscated, and whistle-blowers would be rewarded. In areas where a second child was permitted, target couples who were found to be practicing sex selection would not be allowed to try for a second child again. Between 2011 and 2012 alone, as many as 6,700 cases were investigated, of which 2,400 individuals were punished (Guo et al. 2016).

To assess the impact of this effort, Guo et al. (2016) observe changes in the sex ratio at birth between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. They note that while there was a sharp decline in the sex ratio of second births between 2000 and 2010, there was also an increase in the sex ratio of first births (note that first births were not being monitored). Since first births form nearly two-thirds of all births in the 2010 census, there was no fall in the overall sex ratio at birth. The inference is that with the strict monitoring and penalties in place, parents who wanted sons simply ensured that their first child was a son to avoid the monitoring of second pregnancies.

These efforts by Chinese authorities were successful in that they did reduce SRB among the target group, i.e. women having their second child. However, the financial and logistical costs of the program must be considered, particularly if the program were expanded to monitor first pregnancies as well. The replicability of these efforts in other contexts is also dubious. Various government agencies were mobilized to monitor second pregnancies in China; not many other countries have the administrative capacity and manpower to carry out such an operation (ibid).

While Guo et al.’s (2016) analysis provides suggestive evidence of the impact of the ban’s enforcement on SRB, it does not statistically isolate the treatment effect of the ban. It is difficult to disentangle the impact of ban enforcement efforts from the broader “Care for Girls” efforts taking place simultaneously.

# _Other Countries_

In Vietnam, sex selection was outlawed in 2003. However, enforcement of the law has thus far been regarded as lax, largely because of difficulties in monitoring the misuse of technology 21