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Fertility and Income

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  • T. Paul Schultz

    (Economic Growth Center, Yale University)

Abstract

There is an inverse association between income per adult and fertility among countries, and across households this inverse association is also often observed. Many studies find fertility is lower among better educated women and is often higher among women whose families own more land and assets. What do we know about the social consequences of events and policies that change fertility, if they are independent of parent preferences for children or the economic conditions which account for much of the variation in parent lifetime fertility? These effects of exogenous fertility change on the health and welfare of children can are assessed from Kenyan household survey data by analysis of the consequences of twins, and the effect of avoiding unanticipated fertility appears to have a larger beneficial effect on the body mass index or health status of children in the family than would be expected due to variation in fertility which is accounted for by parent education and household land.

Suggested Citation

  • T. Paul Schultz, 2005. "Fertility and Income," Working Papers 925, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:925
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    File URL: http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp925.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Leandro Carvalho, 2010. "Poverty and Time Preference," Working Papers WR-759, RAND Corporation.
    2. Fullerton, Thomas M., Jr. & Ramirez, David A. & Walke, Adam G., 2013. "An Econometric Analysis of Population Change in Arkansas," MPRA Paper 59588, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 Nov 2013.
    3. Ayo Stephen, Adebowale & Soladoye, Asa & John Olugbenga, Abe & Funmilola Folasade, Oyinlola, 2019. "Sex Preference, Religion and Ethnicity Roles in Fertility Among Women of Childbearing Age in Nigeria: Examining the Links Using Zero-Inflated Poisson Regression Model," International Journal of Statistics and Probability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(6), pages 1-91, November.
    4. Mohammed Sabihuddin Butt & Haroon Jamal, 1993. "Determinants of Marital Fertility in Pakistan: An Application of the "Synthesis Framework"," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 199-220.
    5. Siew Ling Yew & Jie Zhang, 2023. "Health Externalities to Productivity and Efficient Health Subsidies," CAMA Working Papers 2023-31, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    6. Dorsa Amir & Matthew R Jordan & Richard G Bribiescas, 2016. "A Longitudinal Assessment of Associations between Adolescent Environment, Adversity Perception, and Economic Status on Fertility and Age of Menarche," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Paweenawat, Sasiwimon Warunsiri & McNown, Robert, 2014. "The determinants of income inequality in Thailand: A synthetic cohort analysis," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31, pages 10-21.
    8. Sun, Lixin, 2019. "On the nexus of fertility and debt," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 120-126.
    9. Aassve, Arnstein & Kedir, Abbi & Tadesse Weldegebriel, Habtu, 2006. "State dependence and causal feedback of poverty and fertility in Ethiopia," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-30, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Levin,Victoria & Besedina,Elena & Aritomi,Tami, 2016. "Going beyond the first child : analysis of Russian mothers'desired and actual fertility Patterns," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7643, The World Bank.
    11. Wang, Qingfeng, 2018. "Missing Women, Gender Imbalance and Sex Ratio at Birth: Why the One-Child Policy Matters," MPRA Paper 95412, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Aug 2019.
    12. Onipede Wusu & Emmanuel O. Amoo, 2016. "Fertility Behaviour and Wealth Situation in Nigeria: Evidence from 2013 Demographic and Health Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 1-14, August.
    13. Wang, Qingfeng & Sun, Xu, 2016. "The Role of Socio-political and Economic Factors in Fertility Decline: A Cross-country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 360-370.
    14. Jaikishan Desai & Alessandro Tarozzi, 2011. "Microcredit, Family Planning Programs, and Contraceptive Behavior: Evidence From a Field Experiment in Ethiopia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(2), pages 749-782, May.
    15. Srinivasan Raghavendran & Kijong Kim & Sinéad Ashe & Mrinal Chadha & Felix Asante & Petri T. Piiroinen & Nata Duvvury, 2022. "Violence against women and the macroeconomy: The case of Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 239-258, March.
    16. Hassan Zaky & Rebeca Wong & Ismail Sirageldin, 1993. "Testing for the Onset of Fertility Decline: An Illustration with the Case of Egypt," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 285-301.
    17. Yang, Xiaojun & Wen, Qiang & Ma, Jie & Li, Jun, 2020. "Upward mobility and the demand for children: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Oziengbe Scott Aigheyisi & Blessing O. Oligbi, 2019. "Adolescent Fertility in Nigeria: Implications for Economic Growth," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 5(3), pages 51-57, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sources of Fertility Decline; Twins; Child Health; Kenya;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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