A role for cultural transmission in fertility transitions

Thomas Baudin

Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne

Abstract: The paper proposes an economic and cultural mechanism that can predict a fertility transition and its timing. The cultural structure of the population is endogenously determined by a cultural evolution mechanism. The fertility rates reduction in the long run is always the result of an interaction between the cultural and economic structures of the society. Permanent productivity schocks have to distort sufficiently the cultural structure of the population to make acceptable modern behaviours (in term of fertility) to the traditionalist parents. An increase in the average income level provoked by the technological progress will be necessary but not sufficient condition to undergo a fertility transition. Finally, a fertility transition can always appear in the economy whathever the initial cultural structure but that cultural structure determines the timing of the transition

Keywords: Fertility; transition; preferences transmission; cultural evolution; endogenous fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 J10 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2007-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Macroeconomic Dynamics, 14, (4), 2010, pp.454-481

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00159595 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1365100509090403

Related works:
Journal Article: A ROLE FOR CULTURAL TRANSMISSION IN FERTILITY TRANSITIONS (2010)
Working Paper: A role for cultural transmission in fertility transitions (2010)
Working Paper: A Role for Cultural Transmission in Fertility Transitions (2007)
Working Paper: A Role for Cultural Transmission in Fertility Transitions (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v07032

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