IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/rwe111/v5y2014i2p135-142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relative Cohort Size and Fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Panel Data Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Linlan Xiao
  • Michael Shields

Abstract

Latin America has experienced a considerable decline in fertility over the past decades. The total fertility rate at region level was 4.57 in 1975 and fell to 2.29 in 2012. In this study, we examine effect of cohort size on fertility rate to test the applicability of the Easterlin hypotheses. According to the Easterlin hypotheses the income of young adults relative to the income of their parents is an important determinant of fertility. A major factor influencing relative income is relative cohort size. Persons born in large cohorts face greater difficulty in finding employment than persons born in small cohorts due to increased competition and consequently earn less, and, as a result have fewer children. We introduce relative cohort size into panel data models with the total fertility rate being estimated as a function of cohort size, the labor force participation rate of women, the infant mortality rate, the lagged total fertility rate, and the percent of the population that is urban. The results suggest that the Easterlin hypothesis holds in this region but the effect is weak. On the other hand, advanced medical technology hence decrease in infant mortality rate strongly affect fertility.

Suggested Citation

  • Linlan Xiao & Michael Shields, 2014. "Relative Cohort Size and Fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Panel Data Approach," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(2), pages 135-142, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:rwe111:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:135-142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/rwe/article/view/5455/3223
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/rwe/article/view/5455
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard A. Easterlin, 1968. "Population, Labor Force, and Long Swings in Economic Growth: The American Experience," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number east68-1, March.
    2. Cruces, Guillermo & Galiani, Sebastian, 2007. "Fertility and female labor supply in Latin America: New causal evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 565-573, June.
    3. Yongil Jeon & Michael P. Shields, 2005. "The Easterlin hypothesis in the recent experience of higher-income OECD countries: A panel-data approach," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Brigitte Waldorf & Pillsung Byun, 2005. "Meta-analysis of the impact of age structure on fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 15-40, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nie, Peng & Alfonso Leon, Alina & Díaz Sánchez, Maria Elena & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2018. "The rise in obesity in Cuba from 2001 to 2010: An analysis of National Survey on Risk Factors and Chronic Diseases data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-13.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeon, Yongil & Shields, Michael P., 2008. "The Impact of Relative Cohort Size on U.S. Fertility, 1913-2001," IZA Discussion Papers 3587, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Yongil Jeon & Sang-Young Rhyu & Michael P. Shields, 2007. "Asian Demographic Transition: An Instrumental-Variables Panel Approach," Monash Economics Working Papers 28-07, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    3. Booth, Heather, 2006. "Demographic forecasting: 1980 to 2005 in review," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 547-581.
    4. Rita K. Almeida & Mariana Viollaz, 2023. "Women in paid employment: a role for public policies and social norms in Guatemala," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 252-279, July.
    5. Simen Markussen & Marte Strøm, 2022. "Children and labor market outcomes: separating the effects of the first three children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 135-167, January.
    6. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Viola von Berlepsch, 2012. "When migrants rule: the legacy of mass migration on economic development in the US," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2012.
    7. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    8. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2016. "The Causal Effects of the Number of Children on Female Employment - Do European Institutional and Gender Conditions Matter?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 343-367, September.
    9. Caroline Krafft, 2020. "Why is fertility on the rise in Egypt? The role of women’s employment opportunities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1173-1218, October.
    10. Chhavi Tiwari & Srinivas Goli & Anu Rammohan, 2022. "Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2493-2529, December.
    11. Atal, Juan Pablo & Ñopo, Hugo R. & Winder, Natalia, 2009. "New Century, Old Disparities: Gender and Ethnic Wage Gaps in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1131, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Claude Diebolt & Cédric Doliger, 2005. "Becker vs. Easterlin. Education, Fertility and Growth in France after World War II," Working Papers 05-03, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    13. Chen, Cheng & Zhao, Wangyang & Chou, Shin-Yi & Lien, Hsien-Ming, 2021. "The effect of family size on parents' labor supply and occupational prestige: Evidence from Taiwan and Mainland China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Bando, Rosangela & Galiani, Sebastian & Gertler, Paul, 2022. "Another brick on the wall: On the effects of non-contributory pensions on material and subjective well being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 16-26.
    15. Dahlberg, Susanne & Nahum, Ruth-Aïda, 2003. "Cohort Effects on Earnings Profiles: Evidence from Sweden," Arbetsrapport 2003:3, Institute for Futures Studies.
    16. Dowell Myers & John Pitkin, 2009. "Demographi Forces and Turning Points in the American City, 1950-2040," Working Paper 8518, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    17. Nikolova, Elena & Polansky, Jakub, 2022. "Children and Female Employment in Mongolia," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1015, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. John C. Caldwell, 2004. "Demographic Theory: A Long View," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 297-316, June.
    19. Berniell, Inés & Berniell, Lucila & Mata, Dolores de la & Edo, María & Marchionni, Mariana, 2021. "Gender gaps in labor informality: The motherhood effect," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    20. Berniell, Inés & Berniell, Lucila & de la Mata, Dolores & Edo, María & Marchionni, Mariana, 2023. "Motherhood and flexible jobs: Evidence from Latin American countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:rwe111:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:135-142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gina Perry (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://rwe.sciedupress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.