doi: 10.1111/j.1748-3131.2009.01117.x Asian Economic Policy Review (2009) 4, 140–141 © 2009 The Author 140 Journal Compilation © 2009 Japan Center for Economic Research Blackwell Publishing Ltd Oxford, UK AEPR Asian Economic Policy Review 1832-8105 1748-3131 © 2009 The Authors Journal Compilation © 2009 Japan Center for Economic Research XXX Comment Comment Yongding Yu Comment on “Ultrasonography and Sex Ratios in China” Yongding YU† Institute of World Economics and Politics JEL codes J13, J16, O10 China’s national average for the sex ratio has risen from 108.5 in 1982 to 119 in 2005, much higher than the internationally acknowledged normal ratio of 107. The abnormally high sex ratio at birth in China has caused serious worries. However, the cause of the high ratio is still a very controversial issue. The official position is that the high sex ratio in China is attributable to three intertwined factors: the cultural preference for boys, the availability of B-ultrasound machines, and deficiencies of the social security system. The government is adamant that the abnormally high sex ratio is not a result of the one-child policy. To support this proposition, officials from the government family planning agency often cite as examples the high sex ratios in India and South Korea where no family planning has been implemented. However, there are also some scholars who think otherwise. For them, while there are many contributing factors, the one-child policy is the underlying cause of the high sex ratio. Unfortunately, while the answer to the question of the causes of China’s high sex ratio is of tremendous economic and social importance, the issue of the sex ratio in China has never attracted due attention among mainstream economists. Hence, Li and Zheng’s (2009) in-depth study of the issue of the sex ratio in China is highly applaudable. China’s one-child policy has been implemented for three decades. There is no doubt whatsoever that the policy has played an important role in determining China’s sex ratio. However, we still do not know how important it is, let alone whether the abolition of the one-child policy is a necessary condition for the correction of sex imbalances. Rather than discussing the role of one-child policy in the determination of China’s sex ratio explicitly, Li and Zheng limit their subject matter to the effects of the availability of B-ultrasound machines on sex ratio at birth in the 1980s. The limited ambition of the paper enables the authors to draw straightforward and concrete conclusions. There are three major findings in the paper. The first is that the availability of B- ultrasound machine has a negative effect on sex ratio of the first birth in rural areas. Because rural families are allowed to have two children, if the first child is a girl, and Chinese prefer to have children of both sexes, the B-ultrasound machine increases the chance of a family having a boy after having given birth to a girl at the first birth. As a result, there is less need for the parents who wish to have a boy eventually to have a sex-selective abortion. The second finding is that the availability of the B-ultrasound machine increases the sex ratio of the first birth of urban households. This is because for urban households †Correspondence: Yongding Yu, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, No. 5, Jianguomenneidajie, Chao Yang District, Beijing 100732, China. Email: yuyong@public.bta.net.cn