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Religion and Fertility in East Asia: Evidence from the East Asian Social Survey

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  • Donata Bessey

Abstract

This article analyses the effect of religious affiliation on fertility in Japan, Korea and the Republic of China (Taiwan). It adds to the sparse empirical evidence on the effects of religious affiliation on fertility in East Asia, for both Christian and other religions. It uses an identity‐economic model and analyses prescriptions among the different religions to derive testable hypotheses. In the empirical section, the East Asian Social Survey and a generalized Poisson model are used to estimate the effects of different religions on fertility. In line with theoretical predictions, the empirical results suggest that a positive effect of Catholicism on fertility is still present in East Asia. In line with the sparse previous empirical evidence on Buddhism, it seems to have no effect on fertility.

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  • Donata Bessey, 2018. "Religion and Fertility in East Asia: Evidence from the East Asian Social Survey," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 517-532, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:pacecr:v:23:y:2018:i:3:p:517-532
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0106.12209
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    1. Evelyn L. Lehrer, 2004. "Religion as a Determinant of Economic and Demographic Behavior in the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 707-726, December.
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    7. Vegard Skirbekk & Marcin Jan Stonawski & Setsuya Fukuda & Thomas Spoorenberg & Conrad Hackett & Raya Muttarak, 2015. "Is Buddhism the low fertility religion of Asia?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(1), pages 1-28.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dayuan Xie & Yonghong Zhou, 2022. "Religion effects on fertility preference: evidence from China," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 341-371, September.
    2. Sam Hyun Yoo & Victor Agadjanian, 2021. "The paradox of change: Religion and fertility decline in South Korea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(23), pages 537-562.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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