Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters

David de la Croix and Matthias Doepke

American Economic Review, 2003, vol. 93, issue 4, 1091-1113

Abstract: We develop a new theoretical link between inequality and growth. In our model, fertility and education decisions are interdependent. Poor parents decide to have many children and invest little in education. A mean-preserving spread in the income distribution increases the fertility differential between the rich and the poor, which implies that more weight gets placed on families who provide little education. Consequently, an increase in inequality lowers average education and, therefore, growth. We find that this fertility-differential effect accounts for most of the empirical relationship between inequality and growth. (JEL J13, O40)

Date: 2003
Note: DOI: 10.1257/000282803769206214
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Related works:
Working Paper: Inequality and growth: why differential fertility matters (2003)
Working Paper: Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters (2001)
Working Paper: Inequality and Growth: Why Differential Fertility Matters (2001)
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