Fertility trends by social status

Vegard Skirbekk
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Vegard Skirbekk: Folkehelseinstituttet (Norwegian Institute of Public Health)

Demographic Research, 2008, vol. 18, issue 5, 145-180

Abstract: This article discusses how fertility relates to social status with the use of a new dataset, several times larger than the ones used so far. The status-fertility relation is investigated over several centuries, across world regions and by the type of status-measure. The study reveals that as fertility declines, there is a general shift from a positive to a negative or neutral status-fertility relation. Those with high income/wealth or high occupation/social class switch from having relatively many to fewer or the same number of children as others. Education, however, depresses fertility for as long as this relation is observed (from early in the 20th century).

Keywords: fertility; education; income; social class; occupation; status; wealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (89)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:18:y:2008:i:5

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2008.18.5

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