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Public Policy and the Income-Fertility Relationship in Economic Development

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Listed author(s):
  • Masako Kimura

    ()

    (Graduate School of Economics, Nagoya City University)

  • Daishin Yasui

    ()

    (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University)

Abstract

In the pre-industrial era, there was a positive association between income and fertility across households within societies, but in the modern era, a clear association does not seem to exist, neither positive nor negative. Why the income-fertility relationship within societies changed over time is an unsolved puzzle in the history of economic growth, one that has been raised by Gregory Clark (e.g., A Farewell to Alms, 2007). This paper suggests that public policy for children has a key role in solving this puzzle. The interaction between changes in public policy for children and economic development generates changes in the income-fertility relationship across households, as well as hump-shaped dynamics of the average fertility rate over time.

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File URL: http://www.econ.kobe-u.ac.jp/RePEc/koe/wpaper/2012/1224.pdf
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Paper provided by Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University in its series Discussion Papers with number 1224.

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Length: 36pages
Date of creation: Dec 2012
Handle: RePEc:koe:wpaper:1224
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.econ.kobe-u.ac.jp
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  10. Rodrigo R. Soares & Bruno L. S. Falcão, 2008. "The Demographic Transition and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1058-1104, December.
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  25. Weir, David R., 1995. "Family Income, Mortality, and Fertility on the Eve of the Demographic Transition: A Case Study of Rosny-Sous-Bois," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(01), pages 1-26, March.
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Cited by:

  1. Gregory Clark & Neil Cummins, 2015. "Malthus to modernity: wealth, status, and fertility in England, 1500–1879," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 3-29, January.

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