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Postponing Maternity in Ireland

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Author Info
O'Donoghue, Cathal () (Teagasc Rural Economy Research Centre)
Meredith, David () (Teagasc Rural Economy Research Centre)
O'Shea, Eamon () (National University of Ireland, Galway)

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Abstract

As in many other developed countries, Ireland in recent decades has experienced a postponement of maternity. In this paper we consider the main trends in this phenomenon, considering changes in first and later births separately. We adapt the theoretical model due to Walker (1995) to incorporate a declining marginal return to experience to provide a human capital/career planning explanation for this postponement. We estimate a hazard model based upon the 1994 Living in Ireland Survey to empirically test this model. The career-planning hypothesis was found to hold. However an assumption about perfect capital markets failed indicating the impact of an income effect on the timing of maternity. The model also identified the importance of cohort differences in the timing of marriage in explaining much of the inter-cohort specific differences in the timing of maternity.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 4192.

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Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: May 2009
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4192

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Related research
Keywords: labour markets; fertility;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hans-Peter Kohler & Francesco C. Billari & José Antonio Ortega, 2002. "The Emergence of Lowest-Low Fertility in Europe During the 1990s," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 641-680. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. O'Donoghue, Cathal & Meredith, David & O'Shea, Eamon, 2009. "Postponing Maternity in Ireland," IZA Discussion Papers 4192, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Heckman, James J & Walker, James R, 1990. "The Relationship between Wages and Income and the Timing and Spacing of Births: Evidence from Swedish Longitudinal Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1411-41, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Siv Gustafsson, 2001. "Optimal age at motherhood. Theoretical and empirical considerations on postponement of maternity in Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 225-247. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. O'Donoghue, Cathal & Meredith, David & O'Shea, Eamon, 2009. "Postponing Maternity in Ireland," IZA Discussion Papers 4192, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-30.

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