Work from Home and Fertility

Cevat Giray Aksoy (), Jose Maria Barrero (), Nicholas Bloom (), Katelyn Cranney (), Steven J. Davis (), Mathias Dolls () and Pablo Zarate ()
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Cevat Giray Aksoy: EBRD, King’s College London and CEPR
Jose Maria Barrero: Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
Nicholas Bloom: Stanford University
Katelyn Cranney: Stanford University
Steven J. Davis: The Hoover Institution at Stanford University
Mathias Dolls: Ifo Institute
Pablo Zarate: Princeton University

No 2026-36, Working Papers from Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics

Abstract: We investigate how fertility relates to work from home (WFH) in the post-pandemic era, drawing on original data from our Global Survey of Working Arrangements and U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. Realized fertility from 2023 to 2025 and future planned fertility are higher among adults who WFH at least one day a week and, for couples, higher yet when both partners do so. Estimated lifetime fertility is greater by 0.32 children per woman when both partners WFH one or more days per week as compared to the case where neither does. The implications for national fertility rates differ across countries due mainly to large differences in WFH rates. In a complementary analysis using other U.S. data before and after the pandemic, one-year fertility rates rise with WFH opportunities in one’s own occupation and, for couples, in the partner’s occupation.

Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2026
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