Fertility and Labor Market Responses to Reductions in Mortality

Sonia Bhalotra, Atheendar Venkataramani and Selma Walther
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Sonia Bhalotra: University of Warwick
Atheendar Venkataramani: University of Pennsylvania

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: We investigate women’s fertility, labor and marriage market responses to large declines in child mortality. We find delayed childbearing, with lower intensive and extensive margin fertility, a decline in the chances of ever having married, increased labor force participation and an improvement in occupational status. This constitutes the first evidence that improvements in child survival allow women to start fertility later and invest more in the labor market. We present a new theory of fertility that incorporates dynamic choices and reconciles our findings with existing models of behavior.

Keywords: women’s labor force participation; fertility timing; childlessness; child mortality; medical innovation JEL Classification:J13; I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-lab
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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/c ... tions/wp599.2021.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Fertility and Labor Market Responses to Reductions in Mortality (2022)
Working Paper: Fertility and Labor Market Responses to Reductions in Mortality (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cge:wacage:599

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