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Influence of women’s workforce participation and pensions on total fertility rate: a theoretical and econometric study

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  • Tomáš Evan

    (FIT CTU, AAUNI and UNYP)

  • Pavla Vozárová

    (FIT CTU)

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of the two historical and arguably most important correlates of fertility, i.e. female labor participation and pensions. We confirm the long-established negative impact of government provided pensions and all other welfare state social policies except pro-family ones on fertility between 1990 and 2013 in OECD countries. We also claim the reports about positive correlation between female labor participation and fertility, which caused a recent upsurge in research, to be spurious. Our results show a statistically insignificant relationship as a result of pro-family policies designed to offset the negative impact of female labor participation. We conclude that current societies in developed countries continue to have an unsustainable level of reproduction to an extent allowing depopulation, largely due to high and ever increasing female labor participation and a high level of social expenditure, particularly on pensions. We suggest an alternative set of pro-family and pro-natality policies and a decrease in social expenditure as a possible solution.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomáš Evan & Pavla Vozárová, 2018. "Influence of women’s workforce participation and pensions on total fertility rate: a theoretical and econometric study," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 51-72, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:8:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s40822-017-0074-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-017-0074-0
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    2. Seema Narayan & Tri Tung Nguyen & Xuan-Hoa Nghiem, 2021. "Does Economic Integration Increase Female Labour Force Participation? Labour Force Participation?," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 24(1), pages 1-34, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Labor market; Social government expenditures;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative

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