Segregation, fertility, and son preference: the case of the Roma in Serbia

Marianna Battaglia,Lara Lebedinski,Bastien Chabé-Ferret

doi:10.1017/dem.2020.8

Abstract

AbstractWe study the link between residential segregation and fertility for the socially excluded and marginalized Roma ethnic minority. Using original survey data we collected in Serbia, we investigate whether fertility differs between ethnically homogeneous and mixed neighborhoods. Our results show that Roma in less-segregated areas tend to have significantly fewer children (around 0.8). Most of the difference arises from Roma in less-segregated areas waiting substantially more after having a boy than their counterparts in more-segregated areas. We exploit variation in the share of Serbian sounding first names to provide evidence that a mechanism at play is a shift in preferences toward lower fertility and sons rather than daughters induced by a higher exposure to the Serbian majority culture.

Highlights

The Roma population, like many other marginalized minority groups, is characterized by high levels of fertility and severe residential segregation
Is it that minorities more inclined toward a higher fertility tend to crowd out other types from their neighborhoods and become segregated as a result or that groups that are initially isolated tend to be biased toward larger families? Alternatively, it could be that a third factor causes both segregation and high fertility
We find that fertility is lower and son preference more pronounced in Roma settlements that are less segregated from the rest of the Serbian society

Summary

Introduction

The Roma population, like many other marginalized minority groups, is characterized by high levels of fertility and severe residential segregation. Both the direction of causality and the mechanism responsible for this correlation remain unclear. Is it that minorities more inclined toward a higher fertility tend to crowd out other types from their neighborhoods and become segregated as a result or that groups that are initially isolated tend to be biased toward larger families? A further goal is to investigate the different pathways that can link segregation to fertility. We are not able to formally infer causal links as the heterogeneity in residential segregation does not stem from quasi-experimental variation. The data we exploit suffer from selection issues that do not guarantee its representativity of the Roma population.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion