The effect of child mortality on fertility behaviors is non-linear: new evidence from Senegal

Marwân-al-Qays Bousmah ()

Review of Economics of the Household, 2017, vol. 15, issue 1, No 5, 93-113

Abstract: Abstract The present paper examines the relationship between child mortality and fertility at the micro level. We use individual data collected quarterly within the health and demographic surveillance system of the rural community of Niakhar (Fatick, Senegal). Birth histories of 2,884 women born between 1932 and 1961 are analyzed. The determinants of completed fertility are investigated using a standard Poisson Regression Model. The global effect of child mortality on total and net fertility is found to be positive. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to provide evidence for the child survival hypothesis—an effect of child mortality on net fertility—at the micro level. We further identify an inverted-U shaped relationship between child mortality and net fertility. The implication is that health policies aiming at reducing child mortality have indirect effects on desired fertility; yet only a steep decrease in child mortality would be likely to trigger fertility declines.

Keywords: Fertility; Child mortality; Sub-Saharan Africa; Child survival versus replacement hypothesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-014-9264-7

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