Would empowering women initiate the demographic transition in least-developed countries?

David de la Croix and Marie Vander Donckt

No 2008043, LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE from Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)

Abstract: We examine the pathways by which gender inequality affects fertility and hampers growth. We introduce several dimensions of gender inequality into a 2-sex OLG model with a non-unitary representation of household decision-making. We characterize a Malthusian corner regime which is characterized by strong gender inequality in education and high fertility. We find both in theory and in the data that reducing the social and institutional gender gap does not help to escape from this regime while reducing the wage gender gap lowers fertility only in countries which have already escaped from it. The key policies to ease out the countries in the Malthusian regime are to promote mother's longevity and to curb infant mortality. In the interior regime, parents consider the impact of their children education on the expected intra-household bargaining position in their future couple. Education could thus compensate against the institutional and social gender gap that still exists in developed countries.

Keywords: gender gap; fertility; education; household bargaining. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 O11 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Would Empowering Women Initiate the Demographic Transition in Least Developed Countries? (2010)
Working Paper: Would empowering women initiate the demographic transition in least developed countries? (2010)
Working Paper: Would empowering women initiate the demographic transition in least-developing countries ? (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cor:louvco:2008043

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