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Testing the Inverseness of Fertility and Labor Supply: The Case of Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Solomon, Blen

    (Grand Valley State University)

  • Kimmel, Jean

    (Western Michigan University)

Abstract

We test the inverseness of fertility and labor supply for married women in Ethiopia to determine if previous research (focusing on developed countries) that has found an inverse relationship between fertility and labor supply is applicable to least developed countries. The research into fertility and labor supply has relied on a variety of methodologies for addressing the endogeneity of fertility. Using data from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of Ethiopia, we use the husband's desire for children to instrument for fertility. Our empirical results fail to support an inverse relationship between fertility and labor supply in Ethiopia, perhaps because the persistence of traditional family structures in the face of rising national female employment facilitates maternal employment. This finding has implications for other LDCs as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Solomon, Blen & Kimmel, Jean, 2009. "Testing the Inverseness of Fertility and Labor Supply: The Case of Ethiopia," IZA Discussion Papers 3949, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3949
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1980. "Life-Cycle Labor Supply and Fertility: Causal Inferences from Household Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 328-348, April.
    2. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    3. Basu, Kaushik & Ray, Ranjan, 2002. "The collective model of the household and an unexpected implication for child labor : hypothesis and an empirical test," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2813, The World Bank.
    4. Hyunbae Chun & Jeungil Oh, 2002. "An instrumental variable estimate of the effect of fertility on the labour force participation of married women," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(10), pages 631-634.
    5. Guillermo Cruces & Sebastian Galiani, 2003. "Generalizing the Causal Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Supply," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-625, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahaibwe, Gemma & Ssewanyana,Sarah & Kasirye, Ibrahim, 2018. "Early labour market transitions of young women in Uganda," Occasional Papers 276622, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    2. Ssewanyana, Sarah & Ahaibwe, Gemma & Kasirye, Ibrahim, 2018. "Drivers for early labour market transitions of young women in Uganda: evidence from the 2015 school to work transition survey," Occasional Papers 276623, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor supply; fertililty;

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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