IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v195y2022icp158-170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kinship and fertility: Brother and sibling effects on births in a patrilineal system

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Wei
  • Spencer, Byron G

Abstract

We estimate the effect of the number and genders of the siblings of parents on their fertility decisions in a patrilineal system. For that purpose we develop a three-step approach that uses the genders of the first and second siblings to identify gender specific sibling effects while taking account of the influence of gender biased preferences and social norms. Using data from China, we find gender asymmetric sibling effects on fertility. Specifically, the number of brothers (but not siblings) of the husband has a negative effect on fertility: an additional brother is associated with 0.1 fewer own children. The evidence is consistent with a model in which the size of a kinship group reduces the strength of the motive to continue one's family lineage and hence reduces the fertility of each member household.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Wei & Spencer, Byron G, 2022. "Kinship and fertility: Brother and sibling effects on births in a patrilineal system," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 158-170.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:195:y:2022:i:c:p:158-170
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.12.037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268121005473
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.12.037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jere Behrman & Hans-Peter Kohler & Susan Watkins, 2002. "Social networks and changes in contraceptive use over time: Evidence from a longitudinal study in rural Kenya," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(4), pages 713-738, November.
    2. Michael Murphy & Duolao Wang, 2001. "Family-Level Continuities in Childbearing in Low-Fertility Societies," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 75-96, March.
    3. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    4. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2005. "The More the Merrier? The Effect of Family Size and Birth Order on Children's Education," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 669-700.
    5. Mark R. Rosenzweig & Junsen Zhang, 2009. "Do Population Control Policies Induce More Human Capital Investment? Twins, Birth Weight and China's "One-Child" Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1149-1174.
    6. Galor, Oded, 2005. "From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 171-293, Elsevier.
    7. Torkild Lyngstad & Alexia Prskawetz, 2010. "Do siblings’ fertility decisions influence each other?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(4), pages 923-934, November.
    8. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1992. "Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1177-1198, December.
    9. Shang-Jin Wei & Xiaobo Zhang, 2011. "The Competitive Saving Motive: Evidence from Rising Sex Ratios and Savings Rates in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 511-564.
    10. Timothy W. Guinnane, 2011. "The Historical Fertility Transition: A Guide for Economists," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 589-614, September.
    11. Paul Mathews & Rebecca Sear, 2013. "Family and Fertility: Kin Influence on the Progression to a Second Birth in the British Household Panel Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, March.
    12. Ronald Lee, 2003. "The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of Fundamental Change," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 167-190, Fall.
    13. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1980. "Testing the Quantity-Quality Fertility Model: The Use of Twins as a Natural Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 227-240, January.
    14. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "The Family and the State," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Joshua Angrist & Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2010. "Multiple Experiments for the Causal Link between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(4), pages 773-824, October.
    16. Thomas Pullum & Douglas Wolf, 1991. "Correlations between frequencies of kin," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(3), pages 391-409, August.
    17. Michael Murphy, 2011. "Long‐Term Effects of the Demographic Transition on Family and Kinship Networks in Britain," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 55-80, January.
    18. Hanushek, Eric A, 1992. "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 84-117, February.
    19. Belinda Diaz & Thomas Fent & Alexia Prskawetz & Laura Bernardi, 2011. "Transition to Parenthood: The Role of Social Interaction and Endogenous Networks," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(2), pages 559-579, May.
    20. Yuyu Chen & Hongbin Li & Lingsheng Meng, 2013. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Missing Girls in China: Evidence from the Diffusion of Diagnostic Ultrasound," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 36-70.
    21. Junsen Zhang, 2017. "The Evolution of China's One-Child Policy and Its Effects on Family Outcomes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 141-160, Winter.
    22. Kazuo Yamaguchi, 1989. "A formal theory for male-preferring stopping rules of childbearing: sex differences in birth order and in the number of siblings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(3), pages 451-465, August.
    23. Douglas Anderton & Noriko Tsuya & Lee Bean & Geraldine Mineau, 1987. "Intergenerational transmission of relative fertility and life course patterns," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(4), pages 467-480, November.
    24. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    25. Leung, Siu Fai, 1994. "Will Sex Selection Reduce Fertility?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 7(4), pages 379-392, November.
    26. Ashton M. Verdery, 2015. "Links Between Demographic and Kinship Transitions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 465-484, September.
    27. Gary S. Becker & Robert J. Barro, 1988. "A Reformulation of the Economic Theory of Fertility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(1), pages 1-25.
    28. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Deepankar Basu & Robert Jong, 2010. "Son targeting fertility behavior: Some consequences and determinants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(2), pages 521-536, May.
    30. Fengqing Chao & Patrick Gerland & Alex R. Cook & Leontine Alkema, 2019. "Systematic assessment of the sex ratio at birth for all countries and estimation of national imbalances and regional reference levels," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(19), pages 9303-9311, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nie, Peng & Peng, Xu & Luo, Tianyuan, 2023. "Internet use and fertility behavior among reproductive-age women in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oliveira, Jaqueline, 2016. "The value of children: Inter-generational support, fertility, and human capital," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    2. Sascha Becker & Francesco Cinnirella & Ludger Woessmann, 2010. "The trade-off between fertility and education: evidence from before the demographic transition," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 177-204, September.
    3. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    4. Li, Honghui & Hiwatari, Masato, 2020. "Family Size and Educational Attainment : The Case of China," Discussion paper series. A 353, Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido University.
    5. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2010. "Small Family, Smart Family? Family Size and the IQ Scores of Young Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
    6. Damian Clarke, 2018. "Children And Their Parents: A Review Of Fertility And Causality," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 518-540, April.
    7. Dasgupta, Kabir & Solomon, Keisha T., 2018. "Family size effects on childhood obesity: Evidence on the quantity-quality trade-off using the NLSY," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 42-55.
    8. Peng, Fei & Anwar, Sajid & Kang, Lili, 2022. "Number of siblings, access to treated water and returns to education in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 526-538.
    9. Jakob Madsen & Holger Strulik, 2023. "Testing unified growth theory: Technological progress and the child quantity‐quality tradeoff," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), pages 235-275, January.
    10. Alison L. Booth & Hiau Joo Kee, 2009. "Intergenerational Transmission of Fertility Patterns," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(2), pages 183-208, April.
    11. Chen Cheng & Chou Shin-Yi & Wang Cheng & Zhao Wangyang, 2020. "The Effect of the Second Child on the Anthropometric Outcomes and Nutrition Intake of the First Child: Evidence from the Relaxation of the One-Child Policy in Rural China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-28, January.
    12. Zhou, Ying & Jia, Nan & Yang, Tianchi, 2021. "The quantity–quality trade-off related to investment in healthy human capital: New evidence from the implementation of the “selective two-child policy” in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Oded Galor, 2012. "The demographic transition: causes and consequences," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 6(1), pages 1-28, January.
    14. Chen, Qihui, 2021. "Population policy, family size and child malnutrition in Vietnam – Testing the trade-off between child quantity and quality from a child nutrition perspective," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    15. Ito, Takahiro & Tanaka, Shinsuke, 2018. "Abolishing user fees, fertility choice, and educational attainment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 33-44.
    16. Jing Li & William H. Dow & Luis Rosero-Bixby, 2017. "Education Gains Attributable to Fertility Decline: Patterns by Gender, Period, and Country in Latin America and Asia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(4), pages 1353-1373, August.
    17. Jaqueline Oliveira, 2019. "Birth order and the gender gap in educational attainment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 775-803, September.
    18. Jia, Nan & Zhou, Ying & Yang, Tianchi, 2021. "“Selective two-child” policy and household resource allocation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Jianmei ZHAO & Hai ZHONG, 2019. "A Demographic Factor as a Determinant of Migration: What Is the Effect of Sibship Size on Migration Decision?," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(4), pages 321-345, December.
    20. Larry E. Jones & Alice Schoonbroodt & Michèle Tertilt, 2010. "Fertility Theories: Can They Explain the Negative Fertility-Income Relationship?," NBER Chapters, in: Demography and the Economy, pages 43-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:195:y:2022:i:c:p:158-170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.