Full Citation

Title: Censorship, Family Planning, and the Historical Fertility Transition

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN: 0898-2937

DOI: 10.3386/w25752

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: The historical fertility transition is one of the most important events in economic history. This study provides new evidence on the role of information and social norms in this transition. We begin by documenting a causal relationship between the public release of information on the morality of engaging in family planning that resulted from the famous Bradlaugh-Besant trial of 1877 and Britain's subsequent fertility decline. We then show that the release of this information had nearly simultaneous effects among British-origin populations abroad, in Canada, South Africa, Australia and the United States. These findings highlight the importance of information and changing social norms in the historical fertility transition, as well as the role that cultural and linguistic ties played in transmitting these changes around the world.

Url: https://www.nber.org/papers/w25752

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Beach, Brian; Hanlon, W. Walker

Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 25752

Institution: NBER

Pages:

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other

Countries: