Lessons from the past: policy implications of historical fertility studies.

TLDR: The authors found that the relative lack of importance of income and prices in determining the demand for children prior to or during early stages of fertility decline in Europe during the last century can be explained by a change in tastes or a decline in the cost of fertility regulation or some combination of the two factors.

Abstract: Drawing on data compiled during the Princeton European Fertility Project the authors find that "the historical record suggests the relative lack of importance of income and prices in determining the demand for children prior to or during early stages of the fertility decline [in Europe during the last century]." They assert that some early features of the European transition from high to low fertility "can only be explained by a change in tastes or a decline in the cost of fertility regulation or some combination of the two." Among the features of Europes demographic transition that the authors note are "the variety of social economic and demographic conditions under which the decline of fertility occurred; its remarkable concentration over time; the apparent coincidence of the decline with the sudden adoption of family limitation practices; the rapid generalization of such practices once they appeared; the resultant drastic change of reproductive regimes; and finally the importance of cultural factors among those that appeared to influence the onset and the spread of the fertility decline." An innovation-diffusion dimension to the change in reproductive patterns is observed and implications for family planning programs in developing countries are considered. (EXCERPT)