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WHY ARE FERTILITY RATES AND FEMALE EMPLOYMENT RATIOS POSITIVELY CORRELATED ACROSS O.E.C.D. COUNTRIES? *
Author(s) -
Da Rocha José María,
Fuster Luisa
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.658
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1468-2354
pISSN - 0020-6598
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2006.00410.x
Subject(s) - fertility , economics , total fertility rate , unemployment , order (exchange) , unemployment rate , demographic economics , labour economics , demography , family planning , population , research methodology , macroeconomics , sociology , finance
We develop a quantitative theory of fertility and labor market participation decisions in order to investigate the role of labor market frictions in generating the observed positive association between fertility and employment among O.E.C.D. countries. We find that unemployment induces females to postpone and space births, which, in turn, reduces the total fertility rate. Moreover, differences in female labor outcomes across the United States and Spain can account for the low fertility rate in Spain relative to the United States. We also find that labor market frictions can generate a positive association between female employment ratios and fertility rates across economies.