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Rethinking Historical Reproductive Change: Insights from Longitudinal Data for a Spanish Town

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  • David Sven Reher
  • Alberto Sanz‐Gimeno

Abstract

A set of linked reproductive histories taken from the Spanish town of Aranjuez between 1871 and 1950 is used to address key issues regarding reproductive change during the demographic transition. These include the role of child survival as a stimulus for reproductive change, the use of stopping and/or spacing strategies to achieve reproductive goals, and the timing of change. Straightforward demographic measures are used and robust results are achieved. Initial strategies of fertility limitation are shown to exist but are inefficient, are mostly visible during the latter part of the reproductive period, are designed mostly to protect families from the effects of increases in child survival, and are based almost entirely on stopping behavior. As mortality decline accelerates, strategies become much more efficient, are visible at the outset of married life, include spacing behavior, and eventually lead to important declines in completed family size. The results of this study have implications for our understanding of the demographic transition both in historical Europe and in other regions of the world.

Suggested Citation

  • David Sven Reher & Alberto Sanz‐Gimeno, 2007. "Rethinking Historical Reproductive Change: Insights from Longitudinal Data for a Spanish Town," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 703-727, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:33:y:2007:i:4:p:703-727
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00194.x
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    1. Marco Breschi & Alessio Fornasin & Matteo Manfredini, 2013. "Patterns of reproductive behavior in transitional Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(44), pages 1227-1260.
    2. David S. Reher, 2021. "The Aftermath of the Demographic Transition in the Developed World: Interpreting Enduring Disparities in Reproductive Behavior," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 475-503, June.
    3. Francisco J Beltrán Tapia & Francisco J Marco-Gracia, 2022. "Death, sex, and fertility: female infanticide in rural Spain, 1750–1950 [Son targeting fertility behaviour: some consequences and determinants]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(2), pages 234-254.
    4. Francisco J. Marco-Gracia & Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Víctor A. Luque de Haro, 2023. "Life and Death under Son Preference: Economic stress, Fertility and Early-life Mortality in Rural Spain,1800-1910," Working Papers 0240, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    5. Martin Dribe & Francesco Scalone, 2010. "Detecting Deliberate Fertility Control in Pre-transitional Populations: Evidence from six German villages, 1766–1863 [Mise en évidence d’un contrôle volontaire des naissances dans des populations p," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 411-434, November.
    6. Sebastian Klüsener & Martin Dribe & Francesco Scalone, 2019. "Spatial and Social Distance at the Onset of the Fertility Transition: Sweden, 1880–1900," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 169-199, February.
    7. Sandra González-Bailón & Tommy E. Murphy, 2011. "Social Interactions and Long-Term Fertility Dynamics.A Simulation Experiment in the Context of the French Fertility Decline," Working Papers 419, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    8. Martin Dribe & Francesco Scalone, 2014. "Social class and net fertility before, during, and after the demographic transition: A micro-level analysis of Sweden 1880-1970," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(15), pages 429-464.
    9. Marco Breschi & Alessio Fornasin & Matteo Manfredini & Lucia Pozzi & Rosella Rettaroli & Francesco Scalone, 2014. "Social and Economic Determinants of Reproductive Behavior Before the Fertility Decline. The Case of Six Italian Communities During the Nineteenth Century," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 291-315, August.
    10. Frans van Poppel & David Reher & Alberto Sanz-Gimeno & María Sanchez-Dominguez & Erik Beekink, 2012. "Mortality decline and reproductive change during the Dutch demographic transition," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(11), pages 299-338.
    11. Juan F. Gamella & Elisa Martín Carrasco-Muñoz, 2017. "The decline of infant and child mortality among Spanish Gitanos or Calé (1871−2005): A microdemographic study in Andalusia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(33), pages 945-988.
    12. Jona Schellekens & Frans Poppel, 2012. "Marital Fertility Decline in the Netherlands: Child Mortality, Real Wages, and Unemployment, 1860–1939," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(3), pages 965-988, August.
    13. Christophe Z. Guilmoto, 2009. "The Sex Ratio Transition in Asia," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 519-549, September.
    14. Fabian Drixler, 2015. "Conjuring the Ghosts of Missing Children: A Monte Carlo Simulation of Reproductive Restraint in Tokugawa Japan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 667-703, April.
    15. David Sven Reher & Glenn Sandström & Alberto Sanz-Gimeno & Frans W. A. van Poppel, 2017. "Agency in Fertility Decisions in Western Europe During the Demographic Transition: A Comparative Perspective," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 3-22, February.
    16. Delgado-Artés, Rafael & Garófano-Gómez, Virginia & Oliver-Villanueva, José-Vicente & Rojas-Briales, Eduardo, 2022. "Land use/cover change analysis in the Mediterranean region: a regional case study of forest evolution in Castelló (Spain) over 50 years," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    17. Sebastian Klüsener & Martin Dribe & Francesco Scalone, 2016. "Spatial and social distance in the fertility transition: Sweden 1880-1900," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2016-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    18. Miguel Sánchez-Romero & Gemma Abio & Concepció Patxot & Guadalupe Souto, 2018. "Contribution of demography to economic growth," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 27-64, March.
    19. Francisco J. Marco-Gracia & Margarita López-Antón, 2021. "Rethinking the Fertility Transition in Rural Aragón (Spain) Using Height Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-28, August.
    20. Luciana Quaranta, 2011. "Agency of Change: Fertility and Seasonal Migration in a Nineteenth Century Alpine Community [Les agents du changement: fécondité et migration saisonnière dans une communauté des Alpes au 19e siècle," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 457-485, November.

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