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This paper estimates the causal effects of family size on girls' education in Mexico, exploiting prenatal son preference as a source of random variation in the propensity to have more children within an Instrumental Variables framework. It finds no evidence of family size having an adverse effect on education. The paper then weakens the identification assumption and allows for the possibility that the instrument is invalid. It finds that the effects of family size on girls' schooling remain extremely modest at most. Families that are relatively large compensate for reduced per child resources by increasing maternal labour supply.

ObjectiveParents may rely on information provided by extended family members when making decisions concerning the health of their children. We evaluate whether extended family members affected the success of an information intervention promoting infant health.MethodsThis is a secondary, sequential mixed-methods study based on a cluster randomised controlled trial of a peer-led home-education intervention conducted in Mchinji District, Malawi. We used linear multivariate regression to test whether the intervention impact on child height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) was influenced by extended family members. 12 of 24 clusters were assigned to the intervention, in which all pregnant women and new mothers were eligible to receive 5 home visits from a trained peer counsellor to discuss infant care and nutrition. We conducted focus group discussions with mothers, grandmothers and peer counsellors, and key-informant interviews with husbands, chiefs and community health workers to better understand the roles of extended family members in infant feeding.ResultsExposure to the intervention increased child HAZ scores by 0.296 SD (95% CI 0.116 to 0.484). However, this effect is smaller in the presence of paternal grandmothers. Compared with an effect size of 0.441 to 0.467 SD (95% CI −0.344 to 1.050) if neither grandmother is alive, the effect size was 0.235 (95% CI −0.493 to 0.039) to 0.253 (95% CI −0.529 to 0.029) SD lower if the paternal grandmother was alive. There was no evidence of an effect of parents’ siblings. Maternal grandmothers did not affect intervention impact, but were associated with a lower HAZ score in the control group. Qualitative analysis suggested that grandmothers, who act as secondary caregivers and provide resources for infants, were slower to dismiss traditionally held practices and adopt intervention messages.ConclusionThe results indicate that the intervention impacts are diminished by paternal grandmothers. Intervention success could be increased by integrating senior women.