Human Capital and the Timing of the First Birth

Jesse Naidoo ()

ERSA Working Paper Series, 2021

Abstract: I construct and partially characterize the solution of a life-cycle model of fertility choice and human capital accumulation. Because children take time to raise, women face a trade-off between lifetime earnings and childbearing. The model implies that (i) earnings must drop discontinuously at the time of a birth; (ii) age at first birth and human capital will be positively correlated; and (iii) a permanently higher demand for skill causes women to delay first births. I show that the second of these predictions holds in a sample of South African women drawn from the first wave of the National Income Dynamics Study.

Keywords: Fertility; human capital; life-cycle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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