Key Forces Behind the Decline of Fertility: Lessons from Childlessness in Rouen before the Industrial Revolution

Sandra Brée () and David de la Croix
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Sandra Brée: UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Centre de Recherche en Démographie et Sociétés

No 2016014, LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES from Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)

Abstract: To better understand the forces underlying fertility decisions, we look at the forerunners of fertility decline. In Rouen, France, completed fertility dropped between 1640 and 1792 from 7.4 to 4.2 children. We review the list of possible explanations and keep only three: increase in materialism, women's empowerment and increase in returning to education. We propose a theory that shows that we can discriminate between these explanations by looking at childlessness and its social gradient. An increase in materialism or, under certain conditions, an increase in women's empowerment, leads to an increase in childlessness, while an increase in returning to education leads to a decrease in childlessness. Looking at the Rouen data, childlessness is clearly on the rise, from 4% in 1640 to 10% at the end of the 18th century, which appears to discredit the explanation based on increasing returns to education, at least for this period.

Keywords: Demographic transition; Childlessness; Quality-quantity tradeoff; Forerunners; Women's empowerment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 N33 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2016-06-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Key forces behind the decline of fertility: lessons from childlessness in Rouen before the industrial revolution (2019)
Journal Article: Key forces behind the decline of fertility: lessons from childlessness in Rouen before the industrial revolution (2019)
Working Paper: Key forces behind the decline of fertility: lessons from childlessness in Rouen before the industrial revolution (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvir:2016014

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