Generalizing the Causal Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Supply

Guillermo Cruces and Sebastian Galiani

Labor and Demography from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We study the effect of fertility on labor supply in Argentina and Mexico exploiting a source of exogenous variability in family size first introduced by Angrist and Evans (1998) for the United States. Our results constitute the first external validation of the estimates obtained for the US. External validation of empirical results is central to the making of rigorous science, but there are very few attempts to establish it. We find that the estimates for the US can be generalized both qualitatively and quantitatively to the populations of two developing countries where, compared to the US, fertility is known to be higher, female education levels are much lower and there are fewer facilities for childcare.

Keywords: Fertility; labor supply; causality; instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-10-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on WinXP; to print on PS;
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Generalizing the Causal Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Supply (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0310002

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