Topic
Fertility
About: Fertility is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 29988 publications have been published within this topic receiving 681106 citations.
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TL;DR: Analysis of 3589 women in their mid-20s indicates that the number of children planned is more often determined by labor force participation planned than the reverse.
Abstract: Analysis of 3589 women in their mid-20s indicates that the number of children planned is more often determined by labor force participation planned than the reverse. A statistical model is constructed which 1) allows labor force participation plans to cause fertility expectations of young women; 2) simultaneously allows fertility expectations to cause labor force participation plans; 3) allows certain background factors to account for the relationship between fertility expectations and labor force participation plans. One model allows a womans plans for labor force participation to be caused by income and attitude of husband toward labor force participation. The conclusion reached by the model is that the correlation between fertility expectations and labor force participation results from their common antecedent causes rather than a direct causal link.
241 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that the average educational level in a village or a community of a similar size has a significant depressing effect on a woman's birth rates, net of urbanization and her own education, and the need to consider aggregate education in future assessments of the total impact of education.
Abstract: Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys for 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, I show that the average educational level in a village or a community of a similar size has a significant depressing effect on a woman’s birth rates, net of urbanization and her own education. According to simulations, average fertility for these countries would be 1.00 lower if education were expanded from the current level in the region to the relatively high level in Kenya. The exclusion of aggregate education from the model leaves a response of only 0.52. A considerable aggregate contribution is estimated even when several potential determinants of education are included. This finding illustrates the need to consider aggregate education in future assessments of the total impact of education.
241 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first infant health production functions that simultaneously control for self selection in the resolution of pregnancies as live births or induced abortions and in the use of prenatal medical care services.
Abstract: This paper makes contributions to the estimation of health production functions and the economics of fertility control. We present the first infant health production functions that simultaneously control for self selection in the resolution of pregnancies as live births or induced abortions and in the use of prenatal medical care services. We also incorporate the decision of a pregnant woman to give birth or obtain an abortion into economic models of fertility control and use information conveyed by this decision to refine estimates of infant health production functions and demand functions for prenatal medical care.
241 citations
TL;DR: A typical psychological profile for infertile couples could not be identified using standardized psychometric rating methods, which indicates that these couples have a marked need for infertility counselling.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to identify differences in psychological characteristics between couples with fertility disorders, especially idiopathic infertility, and a representative sample. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 564 couples was examined using psychological questionnaires pertaining to sociodemographic factors, motives for wanting a child, dimensions of life satisfaction and couple relationships, physical and psychic complaints, and a personality inventory. RESULTS: Specific to our sample was the high educational level of the couples, and the large number with idiopathic infertility (27% of all diagnoses). There were no remarkable differences in psychological variables between the infertile couples and a representative sample, except that the infertile women showed higher scores on the depression and anxiety scales. Couples with idiopathic infertility showed no remarkable differences in the questionnaire variables compared with couples with other medical diagnoses of infertility. CONCLUSIONS: A typical psychological profile for infertile couples could not be identified using standardized psychometric rating methods. This may be an effect of the specific characteristics of our sample. For some couples, the infertility crisis can be seen as a cumulative trauma, which indicates that these couples have a marked need for infertility counselling.
240 citations
TL;DR: The historical fertility transition is the process by which much of Europe and North America went from high to low fertility in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as discussed by the authors, which is central to recent accounts of long run economic growth.
Abstract: The historical fertility transition is the process by which much of Europe and North America went from high to low fertility in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This transformation is central to recent accounts of long-run economic growth. Prior to the transition, women bore as many as eight children each, and the elasticity of fertility with respect to incomes was positive. Today, many women have no children at all, and the elasticity of fertility with respect to incomes is zero or even negative. This paper discusses the large literature on the historical fertility transition, focusing on what we do and do not know about the process. I stress some possible misunderstandings of the demographic literature, and discuss an agenda for future work. ( JEL I12, J13, N30)
240 citations