Comparative Advantage, International Trade, and Fertility

Quy-Toan Do, Andrei Levchenko and Claudio Raddatz

No 21677, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We analyze theoretically and empirically the impact of comparative advantage in international trade on fertility. We build a model in which industries differ in the extent to which they use female relative to male labor, and countries are characterized by Ricardian comparative advantage in either female-labor or male-labor intensive goods. The main prediction of the model is that countries with comparative advantage in female-labor intensive goods are characterized by lower fertility. This is because female wages, and therefore the opportunity cost of children are higher in those countries. We demonstrate empirically that countries with comparative advantage in industries employing primarily women exhibit lower fertility. We use a geography-based instrument for trade patterns to isolate the causal effect of comparative advantage on fertility.

JEL-codes: F16 J13 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro and nep-int
Note: CH DEV ITI
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2016. "Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 48-66.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility (2016)
Working Paper: Comparative Advantage, International Trade, and Fertility (2015)
Working Paper: Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility (2014)
Working Paper: Comparative Advantage, International Trade, and Fertility (2012)
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