Explaining International Fertility Differences

Rodolfo E. Manuelli and Ananth Seshadri ()
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Rodolfo E. Manuelli: Department of Economics, Washington University in St. Louis.

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2009, vol. 124, issue 2, pages 771-807

Abstract: Why do fertility rates vary so much across countries? Why are European fertility rates so much lower than American fertility rates? To answer these questions we extend the Barro-Becker framework to incorporate the decision to accumulate human capital (which determines earnings) and health capital (which determines life span). We find that cross-country differences in productivity and taxes go a long way toward explaining the observed differences in fertility and mortality. (c) 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..

Date: 2009

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