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The Fertility Transition in Bavaria

Author

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  • John C. Brown
  • Timothy W. Guinnane

    (Economic Growth Center, Yale University)

Abstract

The decline of human fertility that occurred in Europe and North America in the nineteenth century, and elsewhere in the twentieth century, remains a topic of debate largely because there is no accepted explanation for the event. Disagreement persists in part because researchers have rarely used the detailed quantitative information necessary to form adequate tests of alternative theories. This paper uses district-level data from Bavaria to study the correlates of the decline of fertility in that German kingdom in the nineteenth century. Bavaria's fertility transition was later and less dramatic than in other parts of Germany. The European Fertility Project, the most influential study of the European fertility transition, used very large units of analysis and unrefined measures of economic and social conditions. This project concluded that the fertility transition reflected the simultaneous adoption of new ideas about contraception, and was not caused by adaptation to changing economic and social circumstances. We use smaller units of analysis, better measures of the possible determinants of fertility, and more appropriate econometric methods to study Bavaria's fertility transition. Our results indicate that the European Fertility Project was right about the role of religion and secularization, but missed an important role for the economic and structural effects stressed by economic historians.

Suggested Citation

  • John C. Brown & Timothy W. Guinnane, 2001. "The Fertility Transition in Bavaria," Working Papers 821, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
  • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:821
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    File URL: http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp821.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cormac Gráda, 1991. "New evidence on the fertility transition in Ireland 1880–1911," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(4), pages 535-548, November.
    2. Timothy Guinnane & Barbara Okun & James Trussell, 1994. "What do we know about the timing of fertility transitions in europe?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 31(1), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Hallie Kintner, 1988. "Determinants of temporal and areal variation in infant mortality in Germany, 1871–1933," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 25(4), pages 597-609, November.
    4. Mroz, T.A. & Weir, D.R., 1988. "Structural Change In Life Cycle Fertility During The Fertility Transition: France Before And After The Revolution," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 88-13, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nico Voigtl?nder & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2013. "How the West "Invented" Fertility Restriction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2227-2264, October.
    2. Bhalotra, Sonia & Valente, Christine & van Soest, Arthur, 2010. "The puzzle of Muslim advantage in child survival in India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 191-204, March.
    3. Alan Fernihough & Mark McGovern, 2014. "Do fertility transitions influence infant mortality declines? Evidence from early modern Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 1145-1163, October.
    4. David Bris & Ronan Tallec, 2023. "The European marriage pattern and the sensitivity of female age at marriage to economic context. Montesquieu-Volvestre, 1660–1789," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(2), pages 187-231, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fertility transition; migration; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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