Determinants of fertility in the long run

Jong-Wha Lee

CAMA Working Papers from Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University

Abstract: This study investigates the determinants of fertility in the long run, using a newly constructed panel data set consisting of fertility rates, measured as crude birth rates, infant mortality rates, per-capita income, and the educational attainment of men and women for 43 countries from 1890 to 2010 at five-year intervals. The regression results show the significant effects of per-capita income, infant mortality, educational attainment, and political development on fertility rates. A woman's educational attainment at the primary and secondary levels has a pronounced negative effect on fertility rates. On the contrary, an increase in a woman's tertiary educational attainment, with the level of a man's remaining constant, tends to raise fertility rates, indicating that highly educated women can have a better environment for childbearing and childrearing in a society with greater gender equality. The presented research thus identifies the important role of human capital accumulation, especially attained by women, in demographic transition through fertility decisions for over a century of human history.

Keywords: Economic Development; Education; Female Education; Fertility; Gender Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY IN THE LONG RUN (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:een:camaaa:2016-70

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