Job Market Paper: New Media and Son Preference: Evidence from India (with Bruno Martorano)

This research investigates the impact of exposure to social media platform Twitter on son-biased fertility preferences in India. We apply an instrumental variables strategy based on a popular national Twitter campaign attributed to the retirement of Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. We find that exposure to Twitter decreases discriminatory preferences regarding the sex of the child, particularly reducing son preference. These changes in preferences are mainly explained by the fact that social media helps challenge harmful cultural norms, steering a paradigm shift in one’s worldview through new information networks. We show that Twitter served as a platform where Indian users discussed topics related to children, where most Tweets about children were neutral or progressive. We then focus on an online campaign called #SelfieWithDaughter, demonstrating that social media exposure was particularly effective in shaping preferences in districts where the #SelfieWithDaughter campaign was active. All reported results from the heterogeneity analyses confirm that Twitter reduced discrimination irrespective of socioeconomic group.

Praachi Kumar & Bruno Martorano. (2025). Social Media and Son Preference: Evidence from India. UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series. https://www.doi.org/10.53330/RPDC3893