This Paper develops a theory of fertility and child educational choice that offers an explanation for the persistence of poverty within and across countries. The joint determination of the quality (education) and quantity of children in the household is studied under the key assumption that individuals' productivity as teachers increases with their own human capital. As a result, the poor choose high fertility rates with low education investment and therefore, their offspring are poor as well. Furthermore, the high fertility rates in poor economies dilute physical capital accumulation and amplify the effect of child quality choice on economic growth. The model generates multiple steady states even though the technologies employed in the production of human capital and output are convex and preferences are convex and homothetic.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
3059.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
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