The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth

Oded Galor and David Weil

No 4550, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines a novel mechanism linking fertility and growth. Household fertility is determined by relative wages of women and men. Increasing women's wages reduces fertility by raising the cost of children relatively more than household income. Lower fertility raises the level of capital per worker which in turn, since capital is more complementary to women's labor input than men's, raises women's relative wages. This positive feedback leads to the possibility of multiple steady-state equilibria. Countries with low initial capital may converge to a development trap with high fertility, low capital, and low relative wages for women.

JEL-codes: J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1993-11
Note: EFG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (74)

Published as American Economic Review, June 1996, pp.374-387.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth (1996)
Working Paper: The Gender Gap, Fertility and Growth (1995)
Working Paper: The Gender Gap, Fertility and Growth (1993)
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