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Endogenous Fertility With A Sibship Size Effect

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  • Brezis, Elise S.
  • Ferreira, Rodolphe Dos Santos

Abstract

Since the seminal work of Becker, the dynamics of endogenous fertility has been based on the trade-off faced by parents between the quantity and the quality of their children. However, in developing countries, where child labor is an indispensable source of household income, parents actually incur a negative cost by having an extra child, so that the trade-off disappears. The purpose of this paper is to restore the Beckerian quantity–quality trade-off when intergenerational transfers are upstream, in order to keep fertility endogenous. We do that by adding a negative “sibship size effect” on human capital formation to the standard Becker model. With a simple specification, we obtain multiplicity of steady states or, more fundamentally, the possibility of a jump from a state with high fertility and low income to a state with low fertility and high income, triggered by a continuous increase in the productivity of human capital formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Brezis, Elise S. & Ferreira, Rodolphe Dos Santos, 2016. "Endogenous Fertility With A Sibship Size Effect," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(8), pages 2046-2066, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:20:y:2016:i:08:p:2046-2066_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Brezis, Elise, 2025. "The Vicious Cycle between Demography and War," MPRA Paper 124943, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Massimiliano Bratti & Simona Fiore & Mariapia Mendola, 2016. "Family Size, Sibling Rivalry and Migration: Evidence from Mexico," Development Working Papers 390, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 21 Jun 2016.
    3. James Foreman-Peck & Peng Zhou, 2021. "Correction to: fertility versus productivity: a model of growth with evolutionary equilibria," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1473-1474, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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