IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v38y2025i1d10.1007_s00148-025-01057-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life after loss: the causal effect of parental death on daughters’ fertility

Author

Listed:
  • Felix Glaser

    (Johannes Kepler University Linz)

  • Rene Wiesinger

    (Johannes Kepler University Linz)

Abstract

Using Austrian administrative data, this study examines the causal effect of parental death on daughters’ fertility through a difference-in-differences approach. The findings indicate that parental death leads to quantitatively insignificant changes in the number of children and the probability of childlessness. Complementary analyses show no substantial effects on labor market participation, residential mobility, or long-term mental health. The evidence suggests that fertility decisions remain largely unaffected by the logistical and emotional challenges of parental loss, highlighting the resilience of reproductive choices to external life shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix Glaser & Rene Wiesinger, 2025. "Life after loss: the causal effect of parental death on daughters’ fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-40, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:38:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-025-01057-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-025-01057-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-025-01057-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-025-01057-8?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. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Itzik Fadlon & Torben Heien Nielsen, 2019. "Family Health Behaviors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(9), pages 3162-3191, September.
    3. Roberta Rutigliano, 2020. "Counting on Potential Grandparents? Adult Children’s Entry Into Parenthood Across European Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1414, August.
    4. Henrik Kleven & Camille Landais & Jakob Egholt Søgaard, 2019. "Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 181-209, October.
    5. Ahammer, Alexander & Glogowsky, Ulrich & Halla, Martin & Hener, Timo, 2023. "The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark," IZA Discussion Papers 16459, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Daniela Del Boca, 2002. "The effect of child care and part time opportunities on participation and fertility decisions in Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(3), pages 549-573.
    7. Oded Galor, 2011. "Unified Growth Theory and Comparative Development," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 2, pages 9-21, April-Jun.
    8. Rellstab, Sara & Bakx, Pieter & García-Gómez, Pilar & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2020. "The kids are alright - labour market effects of unexpected parental hospitalisations in the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Mathias Jensen & Ning Zhang, 2023. "Effects of Parental Death on Labor Market Outcomes and Gender Inequalities," Economics Series Working Papers 1018, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Petra Persson & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2018. "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 1214-1252, April.
    11. Heather M. Rackin & Christina M. Gibson‐Davis, 2022. "Familial Deaths and First Birth," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(4), pages 1027-1059, December.
    12. Felix Glaser & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2023. "A hard pill to swallow? Parental health shocks and children's mental health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2768-2800, December.
    13. Joseph Rodgers & Craig John & Ronnie Coleman, 2005. "Did fertility go up after the oklahoma city bombing? An analysis of births in metropolitan counties in Oklahoma, 1990–1999," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(4), pages 675-692, November.
    14. Boberg-Fazlic, Nina & Ivets, Maryna & Karlsson, Martin & Nilsson, Therese, 2021. "Disease and fertility: Evidence from the 1918–19 influenza pandemic in Sweden," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    15. Nikolay Angelov & Per Johansson & Erica Lindahl, 2016. "Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 545-579.
    16. Sebastian Pink, 2018. "Anticipated (Grand-)Parental Childcare Support and the Decision to Become a Parent," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(5), pages 691-720, December.
    17. Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2021. "Converting variables between non-hierarchical regions: The case of Austrian municipalities and ZIP-code areas," Economics working papers 2021-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    18. Arindam Nandi & Sumit Mazumdar & Jere R. Behrman, 2018. "The effect of natural disaster on fertility, birth spacing, and child sex ratio: evidence from a major earthquake in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 267-293, January.
    19. Ilciukas, Julius, 2023. "Fertility and parental retirement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    20. Petra Persson & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2018. "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 1256-1263, April.
    21. Oded Galor, 2011. "Unified Growth Theory," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9477.
    22. Ida Lykke Kristiansen, 2021. "Consequences of serious parental health events on child mental health and educational outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(8), pages 1772-1817, August.
    23. Ayako Hiyoshi & Lisa Berg & Alessandra Grotta & Ylva Almquist & Mikael Rostila, 2021. "Parental death in childhood and pathways to increased mortality across the life course in Stockholm, Sweden: A cohort study," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, March.
    24. Itzik Fadlon & Torben Heien Nielsen, 2021. "Family Labor Supply Responses to Severe Health Shocks: Evidence from Danish Administrative Records," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 1-30, July.
    25. Bozzoli, Carlos G., 2016. "Orphanhood and fertility in young adults: Evidence from South Africa," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 190-200.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Felix Glaser & Rene Wiesinger, 2024. "Life After Loss: The Causal Effect of Parental Death on Daughters' Fertility," Economics working papers 2024-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    2. Felix Glaser & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2023. "A hard pill to swallow? Parental health shocks and children's mental health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2768-2800, December.
    3. Esteban García-Miralles & Miriam Gensowski, 2020. "Are Children's Socio-Emotional Skills Shaped by Parental Health Shocks?," CEBI working paper series 20-21, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    4. Petri Böckerman & Mika Haapanen & Christopher Jepsen, 2021. "Dark Passage: Mental Health Consequences of Parental Death," CESifo Working Paper Series 9099, CESifo.
    5. Ester Lazzari & Valeria Zurla, 2024. "The Effect of Parental Caregiving on the Fertility Expectations of Adult Children," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Jensen, Mathias Fjællegaard & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "Effects of Parental Death on Labor Market Outcomes and Gender Inequalities," IZA Discussion Papers 17127, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Deng, Yue & Zhou, Yuqian & Hu, Dezhuang, 2023. "Grandparental childcare and female labor market behaviors: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Edoardo Frattola, 2023. "Parental retirement and fertility decisions across family policy regimes," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1417, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    9. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Helmut Farbmacher & Raphael Guber & Johan Vikström, 2020. "Double Trouble: The Burden of Child-rearing and Working on Maternal Mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 559-576, April.
    10. Ahammer, Alexander & Glogowsky, Ulrich & Halla, Martin & Hener, Timo, 2023. "The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark," IZA Discussion Papers 16459, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Gørtz, Mette & Sander, Sarah & Sevilla, Almudena, 2023. "Does the Child Penalty Strike Twice, and If So Why?," IZA Discussion Papers 16557, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Nieto, Adrián, 2021. "Native-immigrant differences in the effect of children on the gender pay gap," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 654-680.
    13. Stans, Renske A., 2022. "Short-run shock, long-run consequences? The impact of grandparental death on educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Cemal Eren Arbatlı & Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor & Marc Klemp, 2020. "Diversity and Conflict," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 727-797, March.
    15. Patrick Bennett & Richard Blundell & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2020. "A second chance? Labor market returns to adult education using school reforms," IFS Working Papers W20/28, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    16. Matteo Picchio & Claudia Pigini & Stefano Staffolani & Alina Verashchagina, 2021. "If not now, when? The timing of childbirth and labor market outcomes," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(6), pages 663-685, September.
    17. Francisco Gallego & Jeanne Lafortune, 2023. "Baby commodity booms? The impact of commodity shocks on fertility decisions and outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 295-320, January.
    18. Hirani, Jonas Cuzulan & Wüst, Miriam, 2022. "Nurses and infant vaccination coverage," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 402-428.
    19. Tian, Xinping & Gong, Jinquan & Zhai, Zhe, 2022. "Natural disasters and human capital accumulation: Evidence from the 1976 Tangshan earthquake," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Gørtz, Mette & Sander, Sarah & Sevilla, Almudena, 2025. "Does the child penalty strike twice?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126874, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Parental death; Mortality; Family; Fertility; Difference-in-differences; Austria;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:jopoec:v:38:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00148-025-01057-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.