Structural Change and the Fertility Transition

Philipp Ager and Benedikt Herz

No 13609, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper provides new insights on the relationship between structural change and the fertility transition. We exploit the spread of an agricultural pest in the American South in the 1890s as plausibly exogenous variation in agricultural production to establish a causal link between earnings opportunities in agriculture and fertility. Households staying in agriculture reduced fertility because children are a normal good, while households switching to manufacturing reduced fertility because of the higher opportunity costs of raising children. The lower earnings opportunities in agriculture also decreased the value of child labor which increased schooling, consistent with a quantity-quality model of fertility.

Keywords: Fertility transition; Structural change; Industrialization; Agricultural income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 N31 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Structural Change and the Fertility Transition (2020)
Working Paper: Structural Change and the Fertility Transition (2019)
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