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Are Children “Normal”?

Dan Black, Natalia Kolesnikova, Seth G. Sanders and Lowell Taylor
Additional contact information
Natalia Kolesnikova: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and nowat the University of Mississippi
Seth G. Sanders: Duke University

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2013, vol. 95, issue 1, 21-33

Abstract: We examine Becker's (1960) contention that children are “normal.” For the cross-section of non-Hispanic white married couples in the United States, we show that when we restrict comparisons to similarly educated women living in similarly expensive locations, completed fertility is positively correlated with the husband's income. The empirical evidence is consistent with children being “normal.” In an effort to show causal effects, we analyze the localized impact on fertility of the mid-1970s' increase in world energy prices, an exogenous shock that substantially increased men's incomes in the Appalachian coal-mining region. Empirical evidence for that population indicates that fertility increases with men's income. © 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Keywords: economics of fertility; location choice; Appalachian fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Working Paper: Are Children “Normal”? (2011) Downloads
Working Paper: Are children 'normal'? (2009) Downloads
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