Structural Change and the Fertility Transition in the American South

Philipp Ager, Markus Brueckner () and Benedikt Herz
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Markus Brueckner: Australian National University, Postal: Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Markus Brueckner

No 6/2017, Discussion Papers on Economics from University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper provides new insights on the link between structural change and the fertility transition. In the early 1890s agricultural production in the American South was severely impaired by the spread of an agricultural pest, the boll weevil. We use this plausibly exogenous variation in agricultural production to establish a causal link between changes in earnings opportunities in agriculture and fertility. Our estimates show that lower earnings opportunities in agriculture lead to fewer children. We identify two channels: households staying in agriculture reduced fertility because children are a normal good, and households switching to manufacturing faced higher opportunity costs of raising children. The rather bleak outlook for unskilled agricultural workers also increased the demand for human capital, which reinforced the fertility decline that occurred in the American South during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Keywords: Fertility transition; structural change; industrialization; agricultural income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 N31 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2017-04-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-evo, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Structural Change and the Fertility Transition in the American South (2018)
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