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The Economics of Fertility Timing: An Euler Equation Approach

Author

Listed:
  • David Canning

    (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Global Health and Population)

  • Declan French

    (Queen's Management School)

  • Michael Moore

    (Public Health Association of Australia)

Abstract

We develop a dynamic model of fertility, female labor supply and consumption to explain birth timing, particularly why more educated women delay fertility longer. We express the birth timing decision in an Euler equation framework by treating the probability of fertility each period as a continuous choice variable with actual fertility being a random outcome given this probability. Within this framework, it is easy to see the effects of economic forces on fertility timing decisions. Using US data we show that more highly educated women delay fertility to later ages because they can accrue greater benefits from work experience. JEL Codes: J13, J31

Suggested Citation

  • David Canning & Declan French & Michael Moore, 2016. "The Economics of Fertility Timing: An Euler Equation Approach," PGDA Working Papers 11714, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
  • Handle: RePEc:gdm:wpaper:11714
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gahramanov Emin & Gaibulloev Khusrav & Younas Javed, 2019. "Parental Transfers, Intra-household Bargaining and Fertility Decision," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Gahramanov, Emin & Gaibulloev, Khusrav & Younas, Javed, 2017. "Parental Transfers and Fertility: Does the Recipient's Gender Matter?," MPRA Paper 79531, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    births; female labor supply; optimization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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