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Endogenous fertility with a sibship size effect

Author

Listed:
  • Elise Brezis

    (Bar-Ilan University [Israël])

  • Rodolphe dos Santos Ferreira

    (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Since the seminal work of Becker, the dynamics of endogenous fertility has been based on the trade-off faced by parents between the quantity and the quality of their children. However, in developing countries, when child labor is an indispensable source of household income, parents actually incur a negative cost for having an extra child, so that the trade-offdisappears. The purpose of this paper is to restore the Beckerian quantity-quality trade-off in the case intergenerational transfers are upstream, so as to keep fertility endogenous. We do that by adding a negative "sibship size effect" on human capital formation to the standard Becker model. With a simple specification, we obtain multiplicity of steady states or, more fundamentally, the possibility of a jump from a state with high fertility and low income to a state with low fertility and high income, triggered by a continuous increase in the productivity of human capital formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Elise Brezis & Rodolphe dos Santos Ferreira, 2016. "Endogenous fertility with a sibship size effect," Post-Print hal-01723075, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01723075
    DOI: 10.1017/S1365100515000255
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    1. Massimiliano Bratti & Simona Fiore & Mariapia Mendola, 2016. "Family Size, Sibling Rivalry and Migration: Evidence from Mexico," Development Working Papers 390, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 21 Jun 2016.
    2. James Foreman-Peck & Peng Zhou, 2021. "Fertility versus productivity: a model of growth with evolutionary equilibria," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(3), pages 1073-1104, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Endogenous fertility; Intergenerational transfers; Demographic transition; Human capital formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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