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Fertility and Female Employment: A Panel Study on Developing Countries

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  • Emara, Noha

Abstract

The study analyzes the effect of female employment on fertility rate. Using panel fertility regression specification with Prais-Winsten regressions procedure, panel-corrected standard errors, and autoregressive errors on a sample of 29 developing countries over the period 1990-2011, the study estimates the effect of female labor participation on fertility rate. To pick up country-specific factors, using the principal component analysis, the study estimates a family policy index that consists of three important family policy variables including: Duration of paid leave for mothers (weeks), wage replacement of paid leave for mothers (%), and length of breast feeding coverage (years). Furthermore, to pick up fixed effects and time effects, the study includes geographic location (latitude) and time effects. The empirical results confirm the finding of Engelhardt and Prskawetz (2005) that the increase in female labor force participation rate has a negative impact on fertility and that this negative effect is decreasing over time. Also, the results suggest that more flexible policies toward family planning such as longer duration of paid leave for mothers, higher percentage of wage replacement of paid leave for mothers, and longer breast feeding coverage help in increasing fertility. Finally, in line with Pampel (2001), Kogel (2004) and Engelhardt and Prskawetz (2005) the study finds that time trend affects this negative relationship between female labor participation and fertility where the negative impact of the former on the latter decreases over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Emara, Noha, 2015. "Fertility and Female Employment: A Panel Study on Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 68697, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:68697
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pierre‐Carl Michaud & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2011. "Fertility and female employment dynamics in Europe: the effect of using alternative econometric modeling assumptions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 641-668, June.
    2. Carrasco, Raquel, 2001. "Binary Choice with Binary Endogenous Regressors in Panel Data: Estimating the Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Participation," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(4), pages 385-394, October.
    3. Donatien Beguy, 2009. "The impact of female employment on fertility in Dakar (Senegal) and Lomé (Togo)," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(7), pages 97-128.
    4. Browning, Martin, 1992. "Children and Household Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1434-1475, September.
    5. Nakamura, Alice & Nakamura, Masao, 1985. "Dynamic models of the labor force behavior of married women which can be estimated using limited amounts of past information," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 273-298, March.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. García, Carlos J. & González, Wildo D. & Rivera, Tiare, 2024. "Robots at work in emerging developing countries: How bad could it be?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2021. "Who cares: Deciphering China's female employment paradox," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2021, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    3. repec:zbw:bofitp:2021_007 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2021. "Who cares : Deciphering China’s female employment paradox," BOFIT Discussion Papers 7/2021, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; Female Employment; Panel Regression; Prais Winsten; Family Policies.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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