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The effect of education, family size, unemployment and childcare availability on birth stopping and timing

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  • Márton Varga

Abstract

Using data from Portugal’s Fertility and Family Survey, I analyze childbearing decisions up to the third birth using a split-population (SP) model. The advantage of this approach is the separability of the covariates’ impact on birth timing and birth stopping. This paper is the first to apply an SP model to investigate the effect of unemployment and the availability of childcare. I also address how education, family size, age at previous birth of the woman and sex composition of existing children influence childbearing decisions, and provide empirical support for each of these. Comparing these with estimates obtained using survival models that do not include a regression on birth stopping suggest that the results of the latter tend to be unreasonable. Copyright ISEG 2014

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  • Márton Varga, 2014. "The effect of education, family size, unemployment and childcare availability on birth stopping and timing," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 13(2), pages 95-115, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:portec:v:13:y:2014:i:2:p:95-115
    DOI: 10.1007/s10258-014-0099-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrés F. Castro Torres & Emilio Parrado, 2022. "Nativity differentials in first births in the United States: Patterns by race and ethnicity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(2), pages 37-64.
    2. Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska & Magdalena Grabowska, 2023. "The sex preference for children in Europe: Children’s sex and the probability and timing of births," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(8), pages 203-232.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Split population model; Event history analysis; Parity progression; Birth timing; Portugal; C41; J13; D10;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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