Women's Empowerment, the Gender Gap in Desired Fertility, and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries

Matthias Doepke and Michele Tertilt

No 12593, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We document evidence on preferences for childbearing in developing countries. Across countries, men usually desire larger families than women do. Within countries, we find wide dispersion in spouses' desired fertility: there are many couples whose ideal family size differs by five children or more. This disagreement between spouses suggests that the extent to which women are empowered should matter for fertility choices. We point to evidence at both the macro and micro levels that this is indeed the case. We conclude that taking account of household bargaining and women's empowerment in analyses of fertility is an important challenge for research.

Keywords: Women's empowerment; Desired fertility; Marital bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 J16 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-gen and nep-hme
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

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Journal Article: Women's Empowerment, the Gender Gap in Desired Fertility, and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries (2018)
Working Paper: Women's Empowerment, the Gender Gap in Desired Fertility, and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries (2018)
Working Paper: Women's Empowerment, the Gender Gap in Desired Fertility, and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries (2018)
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