Understanding the long term effects of family policies on fertility: The diffusion of different family models in France and Germany

Anne Salles, Clémentine Rossier and Sara Brachet
Additional contact information
Anne Salles: Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4)
Clémentine Rossier: Université de Genève
Sara Brachet: Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Demographic Research, 2010, vol. 22, issue 34, 1057-1096

Abstract: European countries in which mothers are encouraged to remain in the labour market have higher fertility levels. It is difficult, however, to link specific policies to fertility increases. We hypothesize that policy changes do not affect fertility decisions in the short term as long as external childcare is not seen as an acceptable option, although policy does have an impact upon childcare attitudes in the long term. Using a comparative qualitative approach, we find that attitudes towards childcare are strikingly different in France than in Western Germany, reflecting long-standing policy orientations. Attitudes act as an intermediate variable between access to childcare and its use in both countries, and are strongly homogenous within countries.

Keywords: fertility; family policy; France; Germany; attitudes toward child care; qualitative study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol22/34/22-34.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:22:y:2010:i:34

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2010.22.34

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Demographic Research from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Editorial Office (office@demographic-research.org).