Full Citation

Title: Structural Change and the Fertility Transition

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

ISBN:

ISSN: 0034-6535

DOI: 10.1162/REST_A_00851

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: This paper provides new insights into the relationship between structural change and the fertility transition. We exploit the spread of an agricultural pest in the American South in the 1890s as plausibly exogenous variation in agricultural production to establish a causal link between earnings opportunities in agriculture and fertility. Households staying in agriculture reduced fertility because children are a normal good, while households switching to manufacturing reduced fertility because of the higher opportunity costs of raising children. The lower earnings opportunities in agriculture also decreased the value of child labor, which increased schooling, consistent with a quantity-quality model of fertility.

Url: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00851

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Ager, Philipp; Herz, Benedikt; Brueckner, Markus

Periodical (Full): The Review of Economics and Statistics

Issue: 4

Volume: 102

Pages: 806-822

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Family and Marriage, Fertility and Mortality, Land Use/Urban Organization

Countries: