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Menopause as a regulatory device for matching the demand for children with its supply: A hypothesis

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  • Stark, Oded

Abstract

Drawing on two assumptions: that menopause is an instrument for the efficient regulation of the duration of a biologically expensive state, and that people have children in order to obtain support from them in old age, we set out a new idea that seeks to explain both the occurrence of menopause and its timing. On the basis of the notion that the purpose of having children is to obtain support in old age, we perceive menopause as an upper limit to the fertile state, when a continued ability to give birth to children would not generate the desired support. The conjecture yields specific testable predictions, and can be assessed against the “reproductive conflict” hypothesis. Being supported by one’s offspring is a distinctive feature of humans; in this context, we cannot rely on animal studies in evolutionary biology and related fields to help us to ascertain something that is specific to humans.

Suggested Citation

  • Stark, Oded, 2021. "Menopause as a regulatory device for matching the demand for children with its supply: A hypothesis," Discussion Papers 311134, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ubzefd:311134
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.311134
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mirkka Lahdenperä & Virpi Lummaa & Samuli Helle & Marc Tremblay & Andrew F. Russell, 2004. "Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6979), pages 178-181, March.
    2. Bergstrom, Theodore C & Stark, Oded, 1993. "How Altruism Can Prevail in an Evolutionary Environment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 149-155, May.
    3. Kristen Hawkes, 2004. "The grandmother effect," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6979), pages 128-129, March.
    4. Donald Cox & Oded Stark, 2007. "On the Demand for Grandchildren: Tied Transfers and the Demonstration Effect," Chapters, in: Luigino Bruni & Pier Luigi Porta (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Happiness, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Stark, Oded, 1981. "The Asset Demand for Children During Agricultural Modernization," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(4), pages 671-675.
    6. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy & Jörg L. Spenkuch, 2016. "The Manipulation of Children's Preferences, Old-Age Support, and Investment in Children's Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 3-30.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Labor and Human Capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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