Low fertility exists in countries with widely differing institutional structures. The fertility promotion policies should be implemented by these available structures. As far as possible, policies to support fertility should be based upon a theory or theories of why fertility has fallen to low levels in particular settings. The largest pressure to respond with policy changes to low fertility currently exists in the conservative and Southern European welfare regimes. The specific policies that have been proposed in this context can be classified as follows: a) preventive policies, aimed at affecting the demographic behaviours, and b) ameliorative policies aimed at accommodating or ameliorating the consequences of low fertility, population decline and population ageing. Different studies provide mixed conclusions as to the effects of various policies on fertility behaviour. Policies targeted at an increased compatibility between childbearing and labour force participation, as well as policies aimed at reducing the economic costs of childrearing are most promising based on the theoretical framework and empirical evidence.
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Article provided by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Institute of Economics in its journal Economic Thought.