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Fertility in Developing Countries

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  • T. Paul Schultz

    (Yale University)

Abstract

The associations between fertility and outcomes in the family and society have been treated as causal, but this is inaccurate if fertility is a choice coordinated by families with other life-cycle decisions, including labour supply of mothers and children, child human capital, and savings. Estimating how exogenous changes in fertility that are uncorrelated with preferences or constraints affect others depends on our specifying a valid instrumental variable for fertility. Twins have served as such an instrument and confirm that the cross-effects of fertility estimated on the basis of this instrument are smaller in absolute value than their associations.

Suggested Citation

  • T. Paul Schultz, 2007. "Fertility in Developing Countries," Working Papers 953, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:953
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jungho Kim, 2023. "Female education and its impact on fertility," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 228-228, May.
    2. Naeem Akram, 2023. "Household’s Saving Behaviour in Pakistan: A Micro-Data Analysis," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 11(2), pages 139-156, August.
    3. Bharadwaj, Prashant, 2015. "Fertility and rural labor market inefficiencies: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 217-232.
    4. Jorge M. Agüero & Maithili Ramachandran, 2020. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Schooling among the Education-Rationed," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(2), pages 504-538.
    5. Ana Dammert, 2010. "Siblings, child labor, and schooling in Nicaragua and Guatemala," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 199-224, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility Determination; Malthus; Household Demands; Fertility Effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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